Grisaille Gaol
by lalunaticscribe
Summary: 12 years ago:2nd head of the Arcadia Movement died. 3 years ago:the 3rd defected. 1 year ago,the 4th died. 1 year ago:Orion Hunter took the name of Polaris & became the 5th. 1 year ago:The Winter Queen started an inter-world war; humans vs Duel Spirits. The storm has come; we are at war. *Arc I: Shadow Specters* OC fic. Links to my other 5Ds fics, but stands alone.
1. Prologue: Reversal of Dawn & Dusk

_**Grisaille Gaol**_

_**An LLS Production**_

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**Prologue: Reversal of Dawn and Dusk**

It was barely three days after they arrived in New Orleans that the Arcadia Movement invaded the headquarters of the United Nations.

"For the record, this is insane," Chase announced to the cockpit at hand. Dejection and disappointment permeated the cabin; he, and the rest of them had arrived in the United States expecting a B-class tourney only to be told that the tournament had been suspended, and that the New Orleans Arcadia Movement in an uproar after having lost key personnel. A new leader had already been chosen... there was no time even to mourn.

"Even then, there's no other option," the dark-haired man that stood opposite him argued. "They aren't like us. They've never even thought that Duel Spirits could exist. Now that monsters are breathing and talking and real, mass panic is setting in."

With a flick of his head, the clear leader turned towards the cockpit. "MacKinnon?"

By the cockpit, the blond-haired temporary head of the Oceanic Movement gave an ironic salute, from what I could see through the glass door. "No aerial assault, no one to see us, Orion."

"This is a bad idea," a bespectacled man argued in the middle of the cabin. "Hunter-san, you can't be thinking-"

"I am thinking of the same thing she would have been, Kaido." Orion Hunter cut in, glaring at him and towards the other man curled up in the enclosed space next to Kaido. "Are there any objections?"

"You could be shot!" Kaido protested. "Misunderstandings could happen-"

"In another situation, I'd be happy to let you," Orion pointed out sharply. "But right now we are facing an unusual situation, and so the Movement needs to prevent this. If the UN was to declare war without us to step in- I can't even think of the consequences. They're too horrific to be mentioned. Plus, we've commandeered a plane to New York already, it's too late."

Orion turned to look around at the multitudes of Duelists in the commandeered passenger plane. "Any questions?"

"No problem," a dark-haired female Duelist sitting nearby bit off. "We've already told the guys at New York, they're assembling outside. They'll be keeping the riot police busy as we perform an illegal landing and storm the UN headquarters in the middle of the Security Council's announcement. This is... insane, by the way."

"I have to agree," the brunette beside her chipped in, pushing her crimson beret to the correct position. Eyes of indigo found Orion's, but she looked away before the dark blue of the Hunter family. "This is... if we are not believed, then we will be labelled insane. Fugitives. We'll be hunted."

"If we don't do this, that mysterious contact is going to screw everything up and then the whole world could be dragged into a war," Orion sighed. "I know you don't like that idea, Alexianna, but... it can't be helped."

"You are that woman's cousin as well," Alexianna whispered. "You are of that family."

Orion did not answer her. Arcadia Movement or not, there was no way an outsider could comprehend the multitude of family issues at hand. Aunt Diana... what they knew as the Madame, Orion knew as the distant aunt who raised him. What they called a monster, he knew as Setsuka. "There's no time," Orion muttered as the intercom flashed on and MacKinnon announced landing. "Kaido?"

Kaido crossed his arms. "I'll be taking the security rooms with Yukio. It's better... that the guys at Central don't realise it yet. Plus, we might have to erase records."

"I got it." Orion agreed. "Princeton, you'll have to follow me."

"What, me?" the slightly younger doppelgänger of Manjoume Jun squawked.

"Why not me?" a guy shouted from the back.

Orion ignored the other guy with the ease of judiciously selective hearing. "You're the only one experienced enough to deal with either Ryuusei or Setsuka, Princeton."

"We don't even know that it's them!" he protested. "It could be another Duel Spirit-"

"What kind of Duel Spirit would lower itself to deal with the United Nations, when it's pretty clear that they hold no intervening power?" Orion pointed out, watching Chase swallow the rebuttal. "Also," he added, "what is the greatest symbol of change aside from the massacre of the reigning masters of the world order?"

Silence indicated that the stakes were comprehended. Orion turned about the tiny cabin as the information stewed in his brain, trying to look amongst the mass of nervous faces. "Himemiya."

"Y- Yes!" two red-head sisters sat up.

"No. Hazuki," Orion clarified. The younger slumped, her face wan. "I'll need you to follow Princeton and I into the building. While we're inside, I need you to take control of the surrounding area with a Field Spell."

"What?" The newly identified Hazuki faintly echoed. "B- But, Orion-san- it's the Security Council-"

"Take it from me," Orion answered grimly. "We're going to need you. Will you come?"

Hazuki took a deep, shuddering breath that did interesting things to her plain white shirt. Her red hair spilled out of her French bun as she withdrew the hairpins within to redo them. "Y- Yes..."

"Thank you."

Orion stood up and then turned, to face the main administration body of the New Orleans Movement, the head archivist and security plus two more Duelists of the Central Movement, and the rest. The pilots were dismissed; they were not the ones about to battle.

"We are about to enter the Turtle Bay area," Orion solemnly announced. "From the recent news announcements following the Veils lifting to reveal Sight in every living human, there will be a special informant to stand before the UN Security Council and the Assembly of Nations. Delegates all over the world gathering in one place to discuss what I am going to refer to as the sightings of Duel Monsters all over the globe. I have reason to believe that their special informant is, in fact, an agent of Setsuka Shimotsuki."

Silence fell over the tiny cabin, many people hardly daring to answer or speak up.

"I will lead a strike team composed of myself, Hazuki Himemiya, Chase Princeton, Yukio Yamada and Kaido Ariyashi to address this problem within the headquarters," he continued. "To that end, I will require all of you to cooperate and secure the Turtle Bay area, lest... lest we are to come to battle with this agent and its compatriots. Our operation, which shall be entered as the Turtle Bay invasion, begins... now."

Despite still being airborne, the doors slid open, the plane low enough to keep all of us breathing but high enough to merit jumping out suicidal. Orion leapt out, and in a heartbeat Chase and Hazuki followed.

"Fly, Wings of Wicked Flame!" Orion shouted as he flung a card. Flames scattered, the heating air whipped off in free-fall, but the wings slowed his mass long enough to land on the grass outside. A beat later, Hazuki followed, her own conjured wings of red and black petals scattering as she dropped Chase beside him. Chase managed to land on his feet, dusting his leather coat out with the trademark Manjoume scowl already in place. Hazuki landed on Orion's other side like some angel, her DuelDisk was already out.

Overhead, a flash of lightning covered the skies. Orion nodded at the irony.

"Let's go."

They could have gotten lost, and should have gotten lost or caught. Yet, footsteps sounded surely and firmly as Orion navigated them through. From outside, a boom of explosions and gunshots rang – clearly the sound of urban warfare.

"Press outside is going to have a field day," Chase muttered, but remained quiet before he stiffened and suddenly threw himself down.

Hazuki and Orion followed, and a rain of gunfire echoed. Hazuki yelled something, and the smell of roses wafted throughout the hallway as a few hapless security guards turned to plants. They walked past them, running quickly and making the final turn to burst into the General Assembly hall just in time to see a P90 being drawn already.

Orion's hand flicked out as he drew the card, long enough to reveal a gold tattoo which glimmered in the light of the General Assembly hall. "Hinotama!"

The assassin ducked, throwing herself from the main podium amidst the panicked cries of national delegates to avoid the holographic fire. She tucked, rolled, and came up facing them. On either side, the doors flew open to admit more guards, each drawing a side-arm or moving to secure the delegates. Hazuki's panicked gasp and Princeton muttering a curse word followed Orion's silence.

She was graceful, a timeless work of art despite her relatively youthful face. One-six-flat or so, built with the perfect balance of lean and lush proportions that gets girls in trouble with men who should be old enough to know better, though any stupid enough to go after her should be pitied. She wore a power suit of black, the shirt tight across her torso in a v-neck to hint at her cleavage, her arms gracefully folded in the jacket. Her skin made snow seem a bit sallow by comparison. Glittering colours flickered around her neck and upon her fingers, on her heeled boots and in the chignon her long ebony hair had been twisted in; deep blue and green and violet contrasting with the black of her ensemble. Her nails glittered with the same impossibly shifting hues. She smiled as her P90 aimed at Orion; her lips were the colour of frozen raspberries, deep like blood.

She was beautiful; elegant with the cultured beauty that came of self-assurance and power. Despite being before the delegates of nations around the world, there was some undefined sense that _this_ woman was in charge, and with it came the impression of her owning the space around her. It should have been impressed. It should have been appreciated, at least on an aesthetic or distant plane; her features, her effortless glamour, her very aura of power.

Her eyes made it all the worse. They were wide and blue-green, and cold. Though they, too, were beautiful, they were cold and inhuman eyes; they were filled with intelligence and desire, but empty of compassion or pity.

Orion's hand moved to cover his midriff, his stomach that covered a huge scar four fingers in width; the remnants of where Setsuka Shimotsuki had torn his insides out before. If there hadn't been Arcadia Movement on hand, he would have died.

Her hand had been the one to do that to me.

"Orion-niisan," her low voice echoed in the General Assembly hall, Her voice was cold and with some unusual musical quality to it the kind of frozen clarity that was a symphonic prelude to natural disasters.

"You've been a very bad girl, Setsuka," Orion gave his best shot at a level reply. "Deserting the Arcadia Movement, destroying people's lives, and now you are here, about to kill the representatives of the world."

"There is no reason," she considered. "For new leadership to take place, the old must be destroyed. The world must awaken from its denial of safety, and realise that nothing is safe."

"Guards!" someone yelled, as the guards approached to dog-pile her.

"No!" Orion shouted, but it was too late.

A flash of white light, and seven statues of humans encased in ice met my sight. Delegates screamed, and some went for the doors that slammed closed with an Arctic gale.

"There is no safety for you all," Setsuka pronounced with the kind of awful certainty that preluded prophecies of doom. "Nowhere you can hide; not from the silence of death, not from the dark and cold. So says the Queen of Air and Darkness, monarch of the Winter. So says the malevolent will of Duel Spirits high and low."

"I won't let you win here," Orion fiercely defended.

She smirked, and one statue shattered. The blood and gore of a guard-sicle spattered on the carpet, and quite a few more people screamed.

"Whose side are you on?" Orion demanded.

"I side with the rational ones, and I am against those who pick useless fights," Setsuka clearly pronounced.

"I wasn't aware that mass-murder could be rational."

"It can." Another guard-sicle, more blood spatter. "These guards are merely covered in ice; should they receive aid in time, they shall recover. That is, unless I choose otherwise."

"Clearly there is no rational reason for you to release those guards, hostages that they are," Orion countered.

"No, there is none."

"Neither is there reason for you to step back, when you know that you have to murder the delegates present." At this comment from Orion, it looked like the General Assembly finally reached a consensus to whimper in the presence of Shimotsuki Setsuka.

"There is not." Setsuka reached on either side of her, and seized one delegate, a man. He screamed, right before she moved to grab his neck. Orion pulled another fireball and she dodged, letting the relieved delegate to crawl under the desk in escape. A stench of ammonia was filling the room; whatever your reasoning, Setsuka was still a terrifying creature.

"You..." Orion panted. "I will not allow you to touch anyone."

"The ritual of Seika Kannazuki's death tore apart the veils of worlds," she murmured. "With it was the rights of non-interference. Right now, spirits and humans can interact en masse for the first time in millennia. And your reasoning, of course, is to fear us. Destroy us. Forget us."

Orion glanced towards one of the cameras by the side, and then faced her. "Isn't that the rational thing to do in the face of monsters? Otherwise it is our death."

"All things end." There was that look in her eyes, the one Orion was familiar with. The haunted look right before she dealt the blow eleven years ago.

"Your ghosts, and you, the ghost of the Arcadia Movement, have no place here," he answered at last. "If you do not, war will be had. I'm quite sure the world will fight to maintain its sovereignty."

"I'm quite sure that monsters do not care should war be declared upon them regardless," Setsuka observed.

"If you do this, the Arcadia Movement will be at the forefront of any and all efforts to bring you down," Orion snarled.

She looked at him, ice-blue eyes coolly boring into ice-blue before she raised both hands and then, twisting her wrists, she snapped her fingers. The temperature dropped, and Orion stepped back momentarily before she uttered her words.

"Very well. I accept your declaration of war for all humanity against the Winter Court." Setsuka crossed her arms, amused. "Let's begin."

She disappeared, and with her gone the remaining guard-sicles gave a resounding crack that left spatter permanently in the middle of the delegates of the world.

A phone rang, a spot of normalcy in the silence. Orion answered his cell-phone. "Hunter."

"We're on live broadcast," Kaido's voice announced without ceremony. "Face the camera. Talk."

Orion sighed, marching up to the podium of the world and facing the innocent-looking camera. Of the Central Movement psychics other than himself and the Himemiya sisters, only Kaido and Yamada Yukio had come to New York, remnants of _her_ guard. They followed her, lost her, and now the previous head's corpse was missing, barely cooled and probably starting to rot while Orion was about to do the craziest thing any head of the Arcadia Movement could be doing.

"Citizens of the world, and fellow Arcadians," he addressed the innocent-looking lens. "I am addressing you within the General Assembly of the United Nations headquarters of Turtle Bay. Thirty seconds ago, Setsuka Shimotsuki, the third head and most infamous of us Arcadians, attacked the headquarters of the United Nations in Turtle Bay, New York, and killed three... _seven_ guards in her attempt to murder the delegates of the General Assembly. We stopped her, but she has escaped. This situation is related to the problem of Duel Monster sightings across the globe; she is working with them."

Orion took a deep breath. "To all Arcadians. Exactly three days ago... Polaris fell in battle. Her sacrifice revealed to us the existence of our enemy, the monsters we have all seen and will see, the monsters that will kill us under the rule of such identities as Setsuka Shimotsuki. In her place, and carrying her will, I, Orion Hunter, codename Goldenrod, hereby renounce the codename I bear. In its place, I shall take the name of Polaris, and the position of fifth head of the Arcadia Movement. My first announcement, to my fellow Psychics across the globe; in light of the crisis we face, I hereby announce our entry into a state of hostility, against those who would threaten the nations of this world. Our enemies are the monsters revealed to us within the last three days, the ones that you Arcadians must have seen, and must have already fought. We will not waste the sacrifice of the previous Polaris... no, of Seika Kannazuki. To that end, as the fifth head of the Central Arcadia Movement, I do hereby extend the call to arms to our fellowship of Arcadia, to our allies within the world's citizens, to every armed force that will be required. The storm has come; we are at war."

Outside the building, a storm charged; a blizzard raged, and they clashed over the Turtle Bay.

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_**Please review!**_


	2. I: Moulding the Monarchs

_**Grisaille Gaol**_

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**I: Moulding the Monarchs**

_Central Arcadia Movement Headquarters, La Castle  
Neo Domino City, Republic of Japan  
28 October 20XX_

One year into the largest large-scale mobilisation of forces in the world's history, it was the thirtieth birthday of one Orion Hunter. For a present, he was informed that the world had lost Russia to the invading forces.

To describe his shock was to describe his reaction; he blinked, rubbed his eyes and stared at the clock in disbelief away from the old retainer, Nakamura Iemitsu. "I wake up to an empty bed, a cold room in a lonely apartment, and the old manservant telling me that not only had Russia been taken over – by its own 'General Winter', no less – the Russian Movement are all possibly dead or turned traitor. And you wake me at dawn for this? What time is it, anyway? That clock can't be right."

"Six hundred hours Japan time, which makes it currently one hundred hours Moscow time," Nakamura-san promptly answered. "The siege of Moscow was started at midnight, Moscow time."

"A very useful phrase employed regularly by Princeton, shortened for the purposes of censoring – FML. Is there a resistance?" Orion asked, yawning as he crawled off the bed.

"The handover was only completed an hour ago. A fully organised resistance requires time."

"That means one hour-" Orion groaned as he reached for the steaming coffee flask that had been prepared much earlier, set on the tray on the bedside table. It was stored in a white mug that looked about as polished as the rest of the loft. "One hour ago."

"I suppose they would turn their efforts to us next?"

"No," Orion shook his head. "There's no hurry to move on us, not while people traffic is stuck to the coastal areas. Supplies are coming in from China, hence there's no extradition move demanded on my part yet. What she'll probably do is branch from Russia into China and then move from there, or maybe move forward to cut through Continental Europe before hemming in India and China- wait a minute. Russia?"

"Yes, Orion-sama."

"Damn. Now they're in a position to stop the smuggling from China. Bloody naval embargo-" Orion sighed into his mug. "And the UN is breathing down my neck for saving their lives."

"To be fair, you made an unauthorised worldwide broadcast to the rest of the world on UN territory."

"Yes, maybe I shouldn't have stood up the alliance of nations on their own turf with an announcement that basically said that the Arcadia Movement had all the answers," Orion sarcastically countered. "Maybe I should've made less enemies. Maybe if I hadn't done it, the curtain would have opened on this conflict between worlds with a veritable bloodbath engineered by one of the most incredible dictators in any record of history. Given the choice between inevitable world war, and a possible alliance between bickering nations in the face of possible demise via common enemy, the choice is obvious."

"The preparation for an emergency call to New York has been established, Orion-sama."

"Thanks, Nakamura-san."

"It is the only thing I can do to make up for such a mistake," the faithful old man whispered before he left the room with barely a sound.

Orion walked into the relatively large bathroom, pausing as he came to face the mirror over the sink. A haunted mask of his face greeted him. The same pale complexion, dark hair cropped into a manageable cut without being too short, and ice-blue eyes set in high cheekbones that radiated a certain strength rather than the cold and malice of the Shimotsuki women.

_Your father possessed these eyes, which reflect the soul of the blood_, his aunt's words came back to him. _Our blood. The blood of witches._

He shaved, cleaned up and slapped on black slacks and a T-shirt, barely giving a look to the faded old bell-bottoms set in the chest of drawers. Dog tags clinked around his neck; a reminder of his travels, and of his obligation. Orion paused, before he shut the drawers and left the room to face the day's work.

His first order when he marched into the War Room was: "Get me that call to New York."

Kaido glared at him from the main desk of the War Room. "This is the fifth Red Bull I'm on, you'd better be thankful."

"Find more minions," he countered. "Now, the Russian situation."

"The Russian flag was broadcast as being set on fire in the US just half an hour before," Kaido yawned. "I get satellite calls from everywhere, then I got the news Nakamura-san dragged your lazy ass out of bed for. I think she'll be going for China or Europe."

"Neither," he swiftly replied as the wall-mounted screen flashed with colour and a feminine face came into view.

"_North America Movement, New York chapter reporting in,_" the woman announced. "_This is codename March of Communications calling in. Over._"

"Roger that," Orion pronounced. "This is codename Polaris calling in. We have a War situation coming in. Call up Shinobi on screen."

"_Polaris_?" codename March echoed, stunned. "_War_?"

"Russia fell to the Winter regime, your strategy's wrong. She's not going to isolate herself on one continent."

A dark-haired man of maybe half-Hispanic descent came up on view. "_Head of the North American Movement of New York and Canadian outposts, codename Shinobi. You're clear, Polaris._"

"Shinobi, nice to see you're still kicking. Winter is not going to be isolated in Asia," Orion started. "She'll be taking the naval path past Greenland to Canada, maybe even the United States."

"_WHAT_?!" Lake, or Shinobi on Arcadian business, looked cheesed off. "_She's going to-_"

"It's a regime called Winter, presume for a moment that the cold doesn't affect them," Orion clarified. "In fact, they have the advantage if they press on now; November, winter starting in the northern hemisphere. If they make progress, they can probably torch Washington by New Year."

"_That's- there's no way they can hope to hold Canada!_" Shinobi pointed out.

"From their view of things, they probably aren't looking to hold stuff. Far more likely that she'll kill everyone."

"_Genocide_?" Now the other man looked even more ill.

"Either way, inform the Pentagon and Canadian DND. No naval trespasses; remember the Deshima Kraken?"

"_No way to forget, man,_" Shinobi muttered. "_Are you sure you won't move here... Polaris_?"

"Can't move even if I wanted," Orion answered. "The Central Movement will move with me when they do, and we will not abandon Neo Domino and the Momentum reactor. Plus, if I'm here, she's focused on the Pacific area, not the Atlantic... at least, for the moment."

"_What's her long-term plan, then?_"

"Russia is, or was, the entrenchment plan," Orion solemnly replied. "Bloody cold climate, set in the Arctic Circle; nearly perfect for her. If she manages to tear through Canada, she'll be on the North American continent and in a position to move for Washington DC, New York and basically the North and North-eastern US. That, or she's going to take Calgary and move past for Hawaii and the general Polynesia area with the Rockies as her cover. Assuming a Winter victory there, the JSDF is going to be a sitting duck if they move into the Pacific's islands from Hawaii. I have Princeton in negotiations, but it looks like there's not a single group of spirits willing to assist us against Winter."

"_I don't understand why we can't admit about Summer to them_," Shinobi protested. "_We all thought Princeton was insane, but... but _that woman_ put him on retainer, and frankly that's the best decision I've seen now that I'm on the receiving end of her wrath. They're a mighty alliance of spirits too, right?_"

"Obviously Summer has its own agenda in whatever metaphysical crap is shared between the two of them," Orion groaned. "I- I'm sorry. That wasn't nice," he immediately said afterwards.

"_It's... alright. So which is it? The Rockies or the West Coast route?_"

"No idea. Get a few scouts to Alaska and tell me when we have feedback on Winter activity from Russia, then. Polaris, signing off. Over."

"_Order received, Polaris. Over and out._"

Orion sank into the nearest chair, massaging his brow which had turned taut with nerves on edge. There was no way to estimate troop count, no way to figure out navy size, no idea if there was something even resembling an air force, only that Winter's navy was strong, and Setsuka was much more capable and vicious than he had expected, and one of the five permanent Security Council members had fallen. The fact that the country he was living in was under a naval embargo was just a bonus worry.

"What happened to that research we were doing?" Orion asked after a heartbeat.

"Well, from what Dr Fudo mentioned... creating a pathway through space to another world would also entail creating that same spatial anomaly in a different time," Kaido mentioned."

"So, in theory, what we intended to do just went from 'impossible' to 'extremely unlikely'."

"Yes. There are still gaps in the information, such as the materials needed to forge the contracts issued by the Courts, and the authority in which the amulets the Fellowship of Grigori lent us rests with… There has also been no indication by which abubble universe could be produced by which the energy needed for such a pathway to be forged be found... more detailed readings are required to even begin making sense of the whole thing. But, I suppose magic wouldn't make much sense anyway."

"I refuse to give up and reduce myself to using 'magic' as an explanation for everything," Orion's tone was scathing in the extreme. "This is science, where A equals A, cause has effect, and things do not happen because _so_."

"Clarke also mentioned that any sufficiently advanced tech is indistinguishable from magic," Kaido pointed out.

"My point still remains. Tech can be duplicated."

"Yes, but Orion-san...never mind," Kaido muttered. "Say, weren't you due at DA Queens? Your newest apprentice is coming in."

Orion paused. "My newest apprentice?"

"Mmm," Kaido shifted a pile of files aside to dig one out. "Nicolette Kurosagi," he held it out to Orion. "Recently awakened Psychic Duelist, Earth variant. Class III, could be Class IV. Maybe even Class V."

"Allot her to Kraehe or Titania." Orion dismissed, waving a hand. "I don't have time to deal with new blood."

"It'll be good for you," Kaido's fingers were laced together as he glanced towards Orion's back over wire-framed spectacles. "After all, Nikki, as she put her name down here, saw your cousin murder her cousin."

Orion stopped walking.

"Second Duelist Kingdom, Yuuki Ayame. Killed by a stray gunshot," Kaido elaborated. "Eyewitnesses testify that Yuuki Ayame was lured into the bullet's path by coercion from Shimotsuki Setsuka. Right now, I think you need to face this problem."

Orion did not turn to face him. "That Setsuka turned into the monster she herself preached not to become, and created several more out for revenge?"

Kaido glanced down at the files littered over the desks of the War Room. "No. The problem, that there are independent agents within us who would attempt to take revenge on her alone. We will lose backup and human resources at this rate, especially with high-profile cases like Kurosagi. Her deck's changed from a HERO variant, she's actually a pretty good combat Duelist. A Queens student, at that."

"And I'm a Stall Duelist from Central," Orion pointed out. "Our strategies don't match."

"This from the last genius Duelist that DA Central produced in the last ten years?"

"I never graduated officially. This conversation is over."

Orion walked out, but the set of his shoulders was that of a man about to march into the greatest battlefield of all.

Eleven years ago, Orion Hunter left Japan to travel the world for a cure; now he was in Japan, and the island never felt more like a prison.

* * *

_Duel Academia Kings and Queens, shared campus  
Neo Domino City, Republic of Japan  
28 October 20XX_

Duel Academia Queens stood besides Duel Academia Kings, its sister school. Though the two schools were technically on the same campus, there was a distinct difference between the brick and mortar Queens, and the ultra-industrial modern outlook of Kings. Yet, the two schools shared a main auditorium, faculty and marking scheme, which was where Dueling was being conducted.

"Ms Kurosagi, can you explain why hand advantage remains important?" the teacher asked a girl with silver hair and dark green eyes. As the girl stood, many students averted their faces from the scars across her face, arms and hands.

"Because hand advantage results in a greater pool of cards in hand, and therefore more ways of countering the opponent's moves. Playing cards from one's hand tends to use up hand advantage, a consequence often described by Duelists as a comparison of one's hand size after using a card with the hand size before using it. Therefore, many cards are considered to be -1, because your hand size decreases by one card after it is used. Cards with discard costs tend to be -2, because hand size decreases by two cards after playing them, and there are yet more that give a loss of advantage. Most cards meant for drawing are considered neutral or 0, and a small number of cards, which included the forbidden Spell Pot of Greed, are considered +1. As mentioned, most cards have negative hand advantage values, which is why in a Duel, both Duelists' hand sizes tend to decrease as the Duel progresses. However, since hand advantage confers more cards on the player holding the advantage, the disadvantage is much more mitigated."

The teacher looked visibly angered. "Then, how would Synchro monsters compare against Fusion monsters? Use the Contact Fusion theory to compare, and address several mitigating factors that normal Fusion gained after the introduction of Contact Fusion."

"With the later Contact Fusions pioneered by Yuuki Judai, what could arguably be the forerunner of Synchro and Exceed monsters reigned over normal Fusion monsters because the overall loss of advantage was cut by one, therefore leaving a Duelist with more cards in hand and so more room for response," the student explained tonelessly. "Yet, having great hand size advantage can also be disadvantageous due to the hand size limit of seven cards that is applied each end phase. There are also cards that make drawing disadvantageous such as Greed, Heavy Slump, Secret Barrel or Disturbance Strategy. Hence, the number of searchers introduced to archetypes which rely heavily on Fusion increased steadily after the advent of Contact Fusion. One example is Elemental HERO Stratos, which can search for any HERO monster in the deck, which may include the rare Elemental HERO Neos, but often means another HERO to use later. Stratos also means that high-level HEROes can be searched start-game, and later summoned closer to end-game. Immediate searching ability conferred an adaptability to E-HERO decks it did not hold previously."

"... thank you, Ms. Kurosagi," the teacher dismissed amidst impressed mutterings. "Sit down."

She remained standing.

"Sit down, Ms Kurosagi," the teacher repeated, harder.

"Sir, are outsiders supposed to be on campus grounds during school hours?"

"No, they are-" the teacher turned around, to be faced with a black and white Mitsubishi Lancer being parked outside, followed by a black Toyota Ridgeline. "This case is an exception."

The bell rang, and then the assembled students began packing up, even as Orion stepped out of the Ridgeline and closed the door, fingering his ochre pendant. From the Lancer, a slim shoe came out, followed by a very short woman. She was of average height, with long silver hair braided down her back with her bangs covering her eyebrows. She resembled a doll with fair skin and lavender eyes hidden behind no-frame glasses.A charm bracelet of a snowflake and a starjingled around her wrist, starkly contrasting with her plain purple shirt and tapered trousers.

The girl stepped away from the silver-haired woman. "Captain Kaname Yuuko."

"Nikki-chan, I said to call me Yuuko," Yuuko corrected.

"Just nice," Orion cut in, intersecting himself between Yuuko and Nikki. "Nicolette Kurosagi?"

"What, you need something?" Nikki snapped back.

"I'm here to pick you up. We've found you a mentor."

"I thought the Arcadia Movement didn't want me," Nikki sneered. "Something about 'trust issues' and 'an obsessive hate over the sole former leader still alive'. Interesting that the Movement needs five words when two would do just fine."

"Names are cursed," Orion nodded, pulling out his dog tags along with the pendant. "Present."

Nikki glared at him, but pulled around her collar to produce a silver chain from which a topaz pendant hung from,an irregular rock trapped in a spiral of silver wire.

"That's a stone used for an Earth alignment, right?" Yuuko spoke up. "An Earth Attribute deck, Ms Kurosagi?"

"Nicolette's deck is none of the business of NDPD, Captain," Orion turned to her, giving her a once-over. "If you're going to arrest a minor, officer, you might want to know that I shall follow regardless."

"Arrest?" Nikki echoed as Yuuko started.

"We just want to ask some questions," Yuuko held up her hands in a placating gesture. "How did you-"

"The Mitsubishi Lancer is one of the models used by Japanese police, especially noting its prevalence in traffic crimes and car chases, not to mention the distinctive paint job, and the fact that Nicolette here just called you 'Captain Kaname Yuuko' within earshot," Orion supplied.

"An observant man you are," Yuuko acknowledged. "But I don't think I have your name."

"Well, technically you already know my name, so I have no reason to repeat it," Orion answered smoothly. "Ciao!"

Yuuko's brow furrowed as Orion's back turned. "I do?"

With a daring grin, Orion steered a stunned high school girl towards the Ridgeline and stuffed her into the vehicle commander seat, getting behind the wheel and driving out of the gates.

"W- What was that?" Nikki echoed, her eyes wide as she stared at Orion from her place in the vehicle commander's seat. "Who are you?!"

"Orion Hunter, previously codename Goldenrod," Orion answered, his eyes never leaving the road. "Fifth head of the Arcadia Movement, and your new mentor. And you are Nicolette Kurosagi, the Movement's newest Class III approaching Class IV."

"Call me Nikki," Nikki offered. "Or Nikki-chan, since you're an old man."

"I'm only just thirty," Orion commented. "If you want, you can call me Orion."

"Okay... Orion-san," Nikki offered. "Orion Hunter... what an unusual name."

"Not in America," Orion defended. "The Hunter family used to name their family after Greek myths. It was only with the last of my aunt's family that the tradition changed. My aunt was Diana Hunter, the one you might know as Madame Shimotsuki Seiran."

"Yeah... second head of the Arcadia Movement, and mother of that woman," Nikki spat. "The White Witch."

Orion's grip briefly tightened. "Codename Endymion. It was retired to commemorate her. The tradition of Polaris didn't begin until Shimotsuki Setsuka. So Shimotsuki Setsuka was the first Polaris, and subsequently Kannazuki Seika, and now I hold the name of Polaris, having been named as the heir. It was pretty shocking, you know."

"I... I didn't know." Nikki looked out towards the streets of Neo Domino. "Orion-san... they gave me a quiz. A test. I honestly wrote down my reply... that I want to kill her. That woman... the one who killed my cousin. I'm sure... the Arcadia Movement shouldn't approve of revenge like this... right?"

Orion executed a left turn and then they hit the highway. "Well... if we didn't lend a hand, you'd probably try your own way. And if you did... you would die. Definitely."

"W- What's that supposed to mean?" Nikki's voice trembled as her fingers tightened against each other.

"Your movements show a reluctance to move your legs, I'd say a sprain," Orion declared without missing a beat. "Since the appearance of Captain Kaname, I've suspected, but it took your reaction to figure it out. If you've already been trying vigilante work on your lonesome without help now, you're suffering for it. If you tried to gun for Shimotsuki Setsuka as you are now, you will die, and you would die horribly. I'm sure that's not the fate anyone would want for a complete stranger, much less family."

Orion sighed into the ensuing silence. "At the very least, you tried to go through official channels to do everything in your power to achieve a means to your desired end. That, plus that you're a Class III with potential to go for Class IV, means an extra edge, a Psychic of incredible power and combat strength, with motivation to gun for your... target. I might not agree with what you're doing, but I hope you can find more motivation than revenge to enter the administration sector and become permanent staff."

"So I was accepted because you're short-staffed and because of this power?" Nikki asked.

"In a word... maybe. For now, I'm declaring you on probation." Orion glanced towards the rear-view mirrors. "Speaking of which, what's your opinion of Duel Spirits?"

"They're... fine," Nikki shrugged. "I mean... that woman might technically be one, but... spirits can't help what they do, right? Some of them... I've seen some spirits victimised by humans, humans victimised by spirits, spirits victimised by other spirits... humans victimised by humans. I... I saw some classmates of mine who turned out to be Changelings, and then they dropped out... I heard they went to DA Sanctuary. Some... are actually nice. Some... it depends. But they can't _help_ their nature."

"I wish they could choose an appropriate battlefield," Orion growled. "Hold on!"

"What-" Nikki cried out as the car was slammed into and the coated glass shattered, but clung onto the frame. "AH!"

Orion kicked the door opened, exiting in a smooth motion. "Young lady, do you need help- oh."

"Please help me, mister!" a high-pitched feminine voice fairly squeaked.

"Hold on, Orion-san, what the hell-?" Nikki shouted as the back door was opened and a hank of lace and tulle and silk was shoved into the back seat before the door slammed shut.

"What was that for!" the cloths unfolded to reveal a mop of blonde ringlets tied with a bright blue bow, perched on top of a doll-like face and body, the latter of which was swathed into the aforementioned dark blue and white ruffled silk gown.

"Saving your life, Duel Spirit," Orion answered as he slid into the car. "If you're being hunted by Goblins, then I'd advise you to sit tight."

"Wait- Duel Spirit?!" Nikki fairly shouted as the girl slumped back into the back seat, looking vaguely wan and tired.

The blonde girl's form began flicking in and out of view, like a bad hologram as Orion began driving like a man possessed. "Explain!" he shouted as a symphony of horns rang up and down the express-way of Neo Domino.

"I... I am... Princess Cologne," the blonde girl haltingly whispered. "I... I bear word... The Winter Queen..."

"What?" Nikki's eyes were wide as Cologne slumped on one side. Then the Ridgeline whined, and the glove compartment unfolded before Nikki. "W- What's this?"

_Duel Mode, set, on, _the console read, displaying a Duel Field. _Initialising Duel Mode, Car. Speed World not found; Speed World not found. Switch to normal Duel? Switch performed. Duel Mode, set on. Voice communication, starting._

"_You've been a very bad girl, Cologne-chan,_" a sibilant voice slithered in over the speakers, such that Nikki tried to physically flinch away from it. "_Involving humans into this._"

"Your magic trapped me here, Goblin King!" Cologne growled, but flinched anyway.

"_It matters not,_" the sibilant voice continued. "_I just have to stop this quaint transport... and then, Cologne-chan, you will see the kingdom fall. We of Winter shall last._"

"Winter? This guy's a Winter agent?" Nikki asked.

"Looks like it," Orion muttered as he jammed the communication shut. "Care to explain, princess?"

"I found a secret and I wanted to being it to the spirit-caller located within this city," Cologne choked. "This secret... it's the cause of everything. Why the Winter Queen could do something as horrible as kill millions of people, people whom Winter should never be able to touch... but, the Goblin King is here. There's nothing... nothing now."

"...I got it," Orion turned to Nikki. "You, take the Duel."

"Me?" Nikki echoed.

"Yes," Orion considered. "I could drive and Duel, but then it means leaving us vulnerable. And, in case you haven't noticed, this car isn't meant for one person to Duel in."

"But, I can't control them fully!" Nikki protested.

"Well, think about it," Orion reasoned. "You're defending someone under our protection now. If that means hurting the other guy, go for it."

"You're a bastard, you know that?" Nikki snapped.

"I'm a Hunter. We're all a little bit of a bastard somewhere." Orion clicked the comm back on. "Any last words, Mr Goblin King?"

"_May Winter's chill reach the marrow of your bones!_" the Goblin King snarled.

"I'll be dealing with you, ugly!" Nikki snarled as she set her deck out, synchronising her DuelDisk with the car's console

"Duel!"

Nikki: LP 8000

Goblin King: LP 8000

"I'll begin, draw!" Nikki called. "I'll summon Gem-Armadillo [1700/600]!"

Outside of the car, an armadillo with an ochre-coloured gleaming shell bounced on asphalt.

"With this, I can take a Gem-Knight monster from my deck and add it to my hand, and I choose Gem-Knight Obsidian," Nikki declared. "I'll then set a card. Turn end."

"_Draw," _the sinister voice filtered in. "_Normal summon, Stygian Street Patrol [1600/1200]. Two reverse cards set, turn end._"

"Stygian Security... careful there," Orion warned. "It can-"

"Right, now I'll grind it to bits," Nikki snapped. "Draw! I summon Gem-Knight Amber [1600/1400]."

The yellow-armoured knight flew by the car, and a scratch appeared where one of its twin knives had lightly tapped the car.

"_Trap card, Next to be Lost,_" the Goblin King declared. "_I shall send another copy of Stygian Street Patrol from my deck to my graveyard._"

"Who cares! Battle! Gem-Armadillo! Roll that motorcycle hack to bits!" Nikki declared.

"Oi!" Orion snapped. "That's too reckless, it's a-"

"_Trap card, Hate Buster,_" the voice sneered. "_Activate only when a face-up Fiend-Type monster you control is selected as an attack target. Select the opponent's attacking monster and your attack target monster, destroy them, and inflict damage to your opponent equal to the original ATK of the opponent's destroyed attacking monster._"

"What?" Nikki groaned as the trap began to lash out at the armadillo.

"Activate the trap!" Cologne screamed. At the same time, damage hit the car, shattering the already broken windows and causing the car to swerve dangerously close to the edges of the express-way on impact.

"Trap activate!" Nikki hurriedly defended. "Pyroxene Fusion! I'll use this card to fuse Gem-Armadillo with the Gem-Knight Obsidian in my hand. Fake diamond, you are still within the conductors of light. Grace the battlefield, defend in thy name! Come, Gem-Knight Zirconia!"

The damage blast rebounded out of the express-way as the giant monster appeared. Gunmetal-grey armour did not shine in any light, but the diamonds on either end of its arms glittered in the mid-afternoon light as it held itself in a gesture ready to attack [2900/2500].

"Nice," Orion commented as the Stygian Street Patrol's dying screams echoed. "We avoided damage and gained another monster to attack."

"Then... Zirconia, direct attack!" Nikki called.

Goblin King: LP 8000 → LP 5100

Nikki: LP 8000

"Next is Amber, with Amber Knives!" Nikki called as the next Gem-Knight charged.

Goblin King: LP 5100 → LP 3500

Nikki: LP 8000

"Right!" Nikki smirked. "I'll play White Elephant's Gift and send Amber to the graveyard to draw two cards. With that, I set two cards and declare turn end."

"_How... agreeable," _the Goblin King muttered. "_It is my move. I shall draw, and then, I summon myself, the Goblin King!"_

With a crackle of lightning, the tiny green-skinned monster appeared in a cloud of power, cackling madly [0/0].

"Er... it's got nothing," Nikki muttered.

"Now, I activate the spell, Where Arf Thou?!" the sibilant voice took on a whole new meaning with that ridiculous card name. "I shall add another copy of myself to my hand from my deck. I banish both copies of Stygian Street Patrol to special summon the other two parts of myself!"

Two more Goblin Kings appeared, grinning [0/0].

"_Goblin King gains one thousand attack power for every other Fiend-Type monster I control other than itself,_" the voice explained, cackling with all three of its doppelgängers on the field [0/0 → 2000/0 × 3]. "_Also, no Goblin King may be attacked while there is another Fiend Type monster on the field._"

"Then... it's an attack lock!" Nikki realised.

"_But, since no individual Goblin King is capable yet of reaching your Gem-Knight, I shall end my turn,_" the King sneered. "_During my end phase of the turn, I shall take two thousand damage from the effect of Where Arf Thou?_"

Goblin King: LP 3500 → LP 1500

Nikki: LP 8000

"Three monsters who can't be attacked... how?" Nikki whispered. "I- draw!"

She glanced down. "No..."

"That's nice." Nikki turned around to see Cologne blinking down. "That card, you can use it, right?"

"But... the wall of monsters... I don't know how," Nikki confessed.

"Why rush?" Cologne reasoned. "There's no reason to."

"You don't have to tell me that!" Nikki hotly shot back. "I draw! Activate Continuous Trap, Birthright! Revive, Gem-Knight Amber!"

"_What are you going to do with that trash of a monster?_" the Goblin King sneered.

"I'll thrash you with him," Nikki retorted. "Activate the Spell, Gem-Knight Fusion! By sending Gem-Knight Lazuli from my hand with Gem-Knight Amber, I fuse these two monsters! Lines of the prism, crisp, clear. Focus the streams of light towards the rage of its enemies! Take up arms, Gem-Knight Prismaura!"

The shining monster wore a cloak and brandished a jagged sword in its hand, appearing in a curtain of stardust [2450/1400].

"The effect of Lazuli allows me to retrieve Gem-Knight Amber from my graveyard to my hand," Nikki declared. "I'll also banish Gem-Knight Obsidian in the graveyard to take back Gem-Knight Fusion to my hand. With that, I use the effect of Gem-Knight Prismaura. By sending one Gem-Knight monster from my hand to the graveyard, I shall destroy one face-up card on your field. I'll discard Gem-Knight Amber. Focus Force!"

Prismaura pointed its sword, from which point a beam of light erupted to destroy one Goblin King. The other two Kings present cringed in the weakness of their solidarity [2000/0 → 1000/0 ×2].

"Turn end!" Nikki declared.

"_I will tear the marrow from your bones!_" the Goblin King spat. "_Draw! I shall activate the Spell, Goblin's Secret Remedy, and I gain six hundred life points._"

Goblin King: LP 1500 → LP 2100

Nikki: LP 8000

"_Then, I shall tribute one Goblin King and summon Puppet Monster [0/0]!_" the cackle cracked, the speakers beginning to tremble with the pitch of the inhuman voice it was forced through. Behind the car, a long, low chuckle, quiet as the grave and infinitely scarier, echoed...

"W- What was that?" Nikki whispered as she glanced at the rear-view mirror to see a jester hat, puff-sleeves, and a grin that would make the Joker proud.

"_When tribute summoned, I shall pay two thousand life points to revive both Goblin Kings!_"

Both Goblin Kings reappeared, grinning madly with their triplet [1000/0 → 3000/0 ×3].

"Three thousand..." Nikki's eyes widened.

"Don't get distracted!" Orion yelled as the car swerved.

"_Attack Zirconia, myself!_"

Nikki: LP 8000 → LP 7900

Goblin King: LP 2100 → LP 100

The damage impacted, sending the car into a tailspin.

"_Second attack, on Prismaura!_"

Nikki: LP 7900 → LP 7350

Goblin King: LP 100

"The trap card!" Cologne struggled, trying to stay upright, her face pale and wan. "The trap card, girl!"

"_Last attack, attack directly!"_

Nikki: LP 7350 → LP 4350

Goblin King: LP 100

The barrage was finally over, as the car was slammed on one side by a hooded figure riding the dark horse.

"_It's about over, girl_," the Goblin King's voice cackled. "_As it will be for you, Cologne-chan~_"

"Calm down, Nikki," Orion instructed.

"How!" Nikki shouted. "We're in a car and that's a Duel Spirit! I... it... I can't! I can't do it like this! Kannazuki-sempai... she taught me about hand advantage. She found my cousin, and then... then when Ayame-neesan died, Kannazuki-sempai really helped. She... she saved my life. But... I can't take revenge for her! I can't even find Shimotsuki Setsuka! How am I supposed to do something like that-!"

Orion made a tight curve and stopped the car, the weight of the Ridgeline thrown off a bit as he tucked the belt off and got out. Nikki blinked as Orion pulled open the door of her seat and beckoned.

"Let's try to think on your feet first," Orion offered as the Nightmare Horse approaching slowed to a canter. "Maybe it'll help. And, if you're facing a stressful Duel, it's best to do it on your feet, right?"

Nikki stared at him, before she slowly got out of the Ridgeline, out of the metal body and upwards to face the figure astride the horse. The Puppet Master loomed overhead, with three other Goblin Kings surrounding it.

"It looks like you're not alone." Nikki turned her head to see that Cologne had limped out behind her. The blonde princess gave a wan, tired smile as she offered a hand roughened by war, at odds with the princess's polished appearance. "What about it?"

Nikki silently glanced towards her, and nodded as she took the hand briefly. When Nikki turned to face her opponent, the smile was gone, replaced by an expression of barely suppressed fury.

"_I set a card, turn end,_" the opponent declared.

Nikki bore up her DuelDisk on her left arm, glaring up at the Goblin King. "My... turn. Draw!"

She glanced towards her cards. "I play Monster Reincarnation, discarding Gem-Knight Sapphire to retrieve Gem-Armadillo. I summon Gem-Armadillo once more, and then use him to search for Gem-Knight Garnet within my deck. Gem-Armadillo, attack Puppet Master!"

"_Trap card, Hate Buster!_" The Goblin King declared with relish as both Puppet Master and Gem-Armadillo met their end with a requiem of cackles [3000/0 → 2000/0].

Nikki: LP 4350 → LP 2650

Goblin King: LP 100

"I'll set a card, turn end." Nikki snapped.

"_Very well. Draw!_" the goblin's eyes glowed as it considered the field. "Goblin King, direct attack!"

"Trap card, Pinpoint Guard!" Nikki defended as Amber reappeared, kneeling with his arms crossed. "When my opponent's monster declares an attack, I can special summon a level four or lower monster in defence mode, and that monster cannot be destroyed this turn!"

"Then, Gem-Knight, take this punishing assault! Goblin Kings, attack!" The main Goblin King commanded, its small wrinkly face stretched in a macabre grin as its doppelgängers leapt to hit the struggling Gem-Knight.

"What? Amber... Amber is suffering..." Nikki realised.

"Being injured as a shield for the Duelist," Cologne murmured. "Such a fate..."

"No... no...!" Nikki whispered as the Knight collapsed to one knee, but kept its head up.

"_I shall set a card and end my turn,_" the Goblin King dismissed, licking his lips. "_I grow weary of this farce. It is clear that the girl has no idea of the forces at stake. Cologne-chan, you of all should comprehend the Queen's plan._"

"If... if, the Queen wished for such, then I have no argument," Cologne answered calmly. "But, should the Queen act as a result of imbalanced forces... It is a force of nature. Then the imbalance should be corrected, rather than fighting a Queen who cannot control her own destiny."

"Destiny...?" Orion echoed. "Then...?"

"_Traitor of all brethren," _the Goblin King hissed. "_You betrayed the Courts for that reason?_"

"Is it not permitted to pity the rulers?" Cologne retorted. "Humans should not suffer for the mistakes of Duel Spirits."

"_It started with humans. It all started with humans,_" the Goblin King shook his head. "_No matter. I end my turn. There is nothing left to be done save wait._"

"Are you... looking down on me?" Nikki glared at him. "Are you?"

"_Yes,_" was the blunt reply. "_Your legs are shaking. Your hearts beats in the face of my three selves. All spirits hold the power to perceive the hearts of humans, and you are no exception to that rule. There is no point; all I have to do is await the moment you begin to rail in despair._"

"You..." Nikki glared at him. "That's wrong!"

"_Can you really, truly say that?_" the Goblin King pressed. "_Can you look me in the eye as I freely admit that I can, and will, kill everything possible within this hideous city that should have expired long ago?_"

"Yes," Nikki shot back. "Because you won't. Because I will finish you before that. I draw!" She glared at the card, before nodding. "I will grind you to death. Gemini Summon, Gem-Knight Amber!"

Amber sparked with white light as it reappeared.

"Then, I activate Call of the Haunted to revive Prismaura," Nikki declared. "Then, I activate Gemini Spark. By tributing Amber, I destroy one Goblin King!"

Lightning flashed, and with it one Goblin King gave an abrupt scream.

"I draw a card by the effect of Gemini Spark. Next, I send Garnet to use Prismaura to destroy the second Goblin King!" Nikki screamed. "Go! Focus Force!"

The second of the wraiths disappeared, leaving the third and last cowering [2000/0 → 0/0].

"Prismaura, attack that pathetic creature!" Nikki screamed. "Prism Blast!"

"Trap card, Sakuretsu Armour!" the Goblin King screamed.

"Quick-play Spell, My Body as a Shield!" Nikki fiercely retorted, leaving the cursed armour to shatter as the Gem-Knight raised its sword and beheaded the Goblin King.

Goblin King: LP 100 → LP 0

Nikki: LP 2650 → LP 1150

"You, and all things like you..." Nikki hissed as the Goblin King staggered back from the blast. "I will end you like them."

Even in defeat, even as his solid body shattered around him, the Goblin King laughed. "_I come from a place where magic walks the very land and sea and skies. Where powers not understood by even my own kind flourish, where the powerless like you are mere pawns and toys of the higher powers. We cannot end. I will return one day, as sure as the seasons shall pass, as sure as the storm comes, as sure as the fact that all things end._"

Pride itself glimmered in its eyes as it spat at her feet. "_I will return again._" A dry laugh escaped caked lips, before the green-skinned creature hung his head and died.

* * *

_**Please review!**_


	3. II: Promotion

_**Grisaille Gaol**_

* * *

**II: Promotion**

_Cape Columbia, Ellesmere Island,  
Nunavut, Canada,  
28 October 20XX_

"No."

Merci Sophia turned her head, sweeping her dark blue locks off to one side of her head as she considered the freezing coast of the island. Her dark blue parka and trousers clung to her skin, keeping the cold out but only barely. "You might have a point there."

The other speaker, one Alexianna LeRouge, merely huddled into her parka. Her breath steamed the air, frost patterns already sticking in her matted black locks and gathering in the eyelashes around her deep indigo eyes. "_J'ai froid._"

"No shit, Sherlock," Merci sounded constantly unrepentant. "And the fact that you dragged me away from the command centre is because of... what, exactly?"

"To tell you that there is no way I can fly out and scout," Alexianna scowled, her pale, skinny form huddled in a black parka with faux-fur lining. "I don't care what kind of Duel Spirits are there, but there's no way she has to invade right now."

"We're stuck by physical limits," Merci shrugged. "Maybe they have some sort of magical method of moving quickly with a whole battleship."

"I could probably handle a battleship," Alexianna observed. "A very low-quality one that has a panicking crew. But not an aircraft carrier. I wouldn't even try."

"And what did our resident strategist say?" Merci urged.

"You were there when the broadcast came in."

"Indulge me. My brain's gonna freeze without work."

Alexianna's exhale sent ice crystals spiralling about in the cold, even though the two Psychics stood near the coast of Ellesmere Island on the very edge of the Canadian province of Nunavut. "Takeshi said that if they're moving as Polaris mentioned it, then it should be soon. Provided that there was a focus on transport rather than active conquest, Canada could hold out potentially forever."

"Course, the Russia situation changed things, but no one expected them to attack the North American continent," Merci agreed. "What do you think?"

"I don't know," Alexianna whispered. "I'm not an expert on her. I'm not an expert on strategy. In fact, why the hell would anyone want to start here?"

"Presume," said a third voice behind them, "that winter holds its greatest stronghold here."

Merci and Alexianna jumped, both of them pulling on their left sleeves to reveal a sheathed knife next to a smaller, folded DuelDisk.

"Well now, there's that," Setsuka commented. She wore an actual ermine muff and white gloves, and a long white coat of fur that looked like it was made from a full polar bear. Woollen leggings of the same white covered her legs, her calves themselves bearing fur-lined white boots. Her hair was left long and loose, with chains of silver woven between her locks in a series of elaborate plaits.

"You look like a fashion plate," Alexianna noted the boots with disgust and envy warring on her face. "How many polar bears did you have to kill for that?"

"None, in fact," Setsuka calmly replied. "Also, if you are attempting to radio for help, I have taken the liberty of ensuring that you would have to physically depart from the island."

Merci reached for her belt, pulling the radio and clicking it in disgust when no sound was emitted from it. "Cold kills electronics. Should have remembered that."

"Heat kills electronics too," Setsuka tonelessly replied, cocking her head in a gesture of measured body language. "You look better, Ms Sophia. Eight years since you joined the Movement, I think."

"One year since I found out what you... unleashed," Merci slowly hissed. "One thousand people dead?"

"No, no," Setsuka assured. "The actual number was much smaller, I assure you. Approximately... five hundred, give or take. Kill too many at once and... well, normal body disposal can only go so far. But you wanted it, remember? 'Kill them. Kill the bastards who did that to my family...' That was your request." Wide-eyed, Setsuka slowly nodded. "I did nothing you did not want."

"Focus!" Alexianna hissed, moving to stand in front of Merci. "You won't get past here," Alexianna loudly announced to the Winter Queen. "As codename Angel of the North American Arcadia Movement, New Orleans branch, I hereby place you under arrest."

"How's Jean?"

"_Comment?_" Alexianna paused at the non sequitor.

"How. Is. Jean." Setsuka pleasantly enunciated. "The Fleury-Mérogis is not known to be very merciful, and neither is the state of France."

Alexianna's eyes narrowed. "None of your business."

"You're defensive," Setsuka observed. "Of course, that means you don't approve of him despite the blood tie between you. The European outpost in Paris wouldn't approve a former addict, even with a Class IV Duelist vouching for him. Of course, I wonder how long it would take before he relapses. Prison is... flexible, and Jean does seem to be the type, doesn't he-"

Alexianna had unfolded her DuelDisk and played a card, and Setsuka waved a hand as the fireball was dispelled mid-flight. Eyes of blue-green shimmering with power narrowed as Setsuka glared.

"Do you really think a Hinotama would even touch me? Much less a stiletto knife?" Two fingers trapped the blade away from Setsuka as the Winter Queen stared evenly at the flushed Duelist.

A foot lashed out, and Alexianna gasped before a dark-haired blur of white slammed her onto the hard, frozen ground. Setsuka stood over the other dark-haired woman, serene and calm and unlike the very monster who had implicitly mentioned Alexianna's brother in a threatening context.

"The Punisher, they call you," Setsuka remarked. "The Angel of Death. Not really. Just a girl scared of facing the light and hiding in her wings and dreams of salvation from darkness. Darklords, fallen angels..."

"Even then, at least I still have family."

"If I feel like it, not for long," Setsuka's eyes narrowed. "Stand, Alexianna LeRouge. Let us see if your deck has the wherewithal to hold against Winter."

Alexianna stumbled to her feet, her DuelDisk out. "What makes you think I will Duel you, anyway?"

"If you don't, I shall find Jean LeRouge," was the simple reply. "A prison is hardly a sanctuary from the dark and cold."

Alexianna gritted her teeth and faced the Queen of Winter, the world's enemy... and formerly, the overlord of the Arcadia Movement. "And what do you gain?"

"A foothold in Northern Canada," Setsuka waved negligently. "In fact, I'd rather you had Ms Sophia as a tag-team partner against me. It hardly seems fair otherwise."

"Rejected," Alexianna retorted.

"Angel," Merci hissed. "What are you doing?"

"If both of us die here, no one is going to be giving warning," Alexianna replied. "Remember, we're Psychic Duelists, but so is she. She's hoping to use the damage to incapacitate us, so that when that navy reaches the mainland they won't have prior warning."

"That's..." Merci relented. "Even so, as head of the Orleans Movement, I won't allow one of our strongest fighters to fall at this stage."

"Twelve years ago, the second head of the Arcadia Movement, Madame Shimotsuki Seiran nee Diana Hunter, was assassinated with her husband," Alexianna whispered, glaring at Setsuka. "Their daughter became the third head, the first Polaris. Polaris, a codename meant for those who guide the Arcadia Movement, was held by that daughter for nine years after that, and in those nine years the Movement reached heights greater, surpassing anything imaginable. It was accepted... we could live alongside society. Three years ago... that daughter, that is, you, disappeared. We found out later, and your successor, the adopted daughter _you_ disappeared, declared you a traitor of the Movement."

"Would reciting my history help you?" Setsuka asked. "I noticed you didn't make note of the other Class V traitor. Of course, not many knew that Ryuusei Fudo was the one who killed the Beckham couple as revenge for his agent, nor did many realise that the death of Hayato Ichimonji was due to him. You were going to declare him a traitor as well, but all records had disappeared by then... I'd bet even his own parents don't remember him. That's why finding a picture of him nowadays is so hard... I think Seika forgot, that her beloved Nii-chan was the only chance at besting me, and you let him slip through your fingers."

"That guy, Regulus- no, Ryuusei, he had nothing to do with you," Alexianna whispered. "Not now. Now, we are summarising all of your sins."

"My sins?" Setsuka giggled. "Very well. Continue... it'll be your last words."

Alexianna jabbed a finger at her, more out of bravado than hate. On her arm, her DuelDisk unfolded, its plate spread like a raven's wing. "One year ago, the fourth head, the second Polaris, died, and her body disappeared in New Orleans. One year ago... I was there in New York! I fought your spirits, I fought the soldiers of the Ice Barrier you set there! That's why, for betraying the Movement, for compromising our reputation, power and safety of our members, as Angel of the Arcadia Movement, I challenge you to a trial by equal powers."

Setsuka held out her left arm, upon which a crystalline snowflake-edged DuelDisk appeared. "I accept."

"Duel!"

Alexianna: LP 8000

Setsuka: LP 8000

"I'll start, draw!" Alexianna called. "I'll activate the Continuous Spell, Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen!"

A building like the Greek Parthenon suddenly appeared on the middle of the cape, but neither Duelist cared.

"This card allows me to special summon a Fairy-Type monster from my hand, such as Athena [2600/800]," Alexianna called as the Greek goddess appeared. "I shall then activate Celestial Transformation to special summon from my hand Darklord Asmodeus [3000/2500]!"

The dark-winged fairy that appeared stood tall and proud.

"And, when a Fairy-Type monster is summoned, Athena blasts you with six hundred damage!" Alexianna called. "Aegis!"

Setsuka did not move, even as the rain of light came down upon her to be deflected away by a shield.

Setsuka: LP 8000 → LP 7400 → LP 8000

Alexianna: LP 8000

"Guard Penguin [0/1200], upon the receiving of damage, can be special summoned from my hand, at which I gain life points equal to the damage received," Setsuka tonelessly defended.

"I use the effect of Asmodeus to mill a Fairy-Type monster from my deck to the graveyard. One reverse card, turn end," Alexianna murmured. "End phase, Asmodeus is destroyed by the effect of Celestial Transformation, giving me an Asmo Token [1800/1300] and a Deus Token [1200/1200], so you'll take another twelve hundred damage from Athena."

The second wave of light was blocked out by another fan of shielded feathers.

Setsuka: LP 8000 → LP 6800 → LP 8000

Alexianna: LP 8000

"I did not say it was the only copy I have," Setsuka commented as the second Guard Penguin appeared.

"Whatever," Alexianna muttered.

"My turn, draw." Setsuka considered it. "I activate the Continuous Spell, White Night Fort."

Ice spikes rose out of the tundra, covering the entire area behind Setsuka in a fortress of pure white ice and snow, cold and beautifully crisp.

"Now, neither player can activate Traps on the other's turn," Setsuka reasoned.

"I see," Alexianna grudgingly nodded.

"I summon Blizzard Falcon [1500/1500]," Setsuka called as a graceful bird with a rainbow plumage appeared on the field. "With that, I shall activate the Field Spell, Lemuria the Forgotten City. All Water-Attribute monsters gain two hundred attack and defence power [0/1200 → 200/1400 ×2] [1500/1500 → 1700/1700]. With that, when the attack power of Blizzard Falcon is higher than its original attack power, I can inflict fifteen hundred damage to my opponent."

"What?" Alexianna cringed as a storm of hail was flung in her direction.

Alexianna: LP 8000 → LP 6500

Setsuka: LP 8000

"I construct the overlay network with these three level four monsters." Setsuka continued.

"Exceed summon?" Alexianna echoed as the ground trembled underfoot. "What's this... mean?"

"The most powerful ruler of the deep sea. Your sharp fangs... shall exterminate everything."

From under her feet, a geyser sprouted. A triangular head-like piece with a blue circle in the centre and a red gem in the upper centre appeared. The gem unfolded, lower arms before upper arms formed, before its head was pieced together. The monster unfolded itself, a deep carmine-maroon shade that loomed with malice aforethought. The hind legs of Shark Drake were bloated, and its fore legs and back wings resembled fins more than anything else. Its head was slim and jagged like an arrow, but it still bore all the marks of a creature who sole purpose was to tear and bite through everything in its path [2800/2100 → 3000/2300].

Ice-like eyes gleaming as it growled overhead. "Shark Drake, attack Athena! Depth Bite!"

The goddess screamed as she was roughly torn through.

Alexianna: LP 6500 → LP 6100

Setsuka: LP 8000

"Ah!" Alexianna hissed as a silver of ice cut her exposed cheek.

"The effect of Shark Drake activates," Setsuka solemnly declared. "Once per turn, when this attacking card destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the graveyard, I can detach one Exceed material, and special summon the destroyed monster to my opponent's side of the field in face-up attack position."

"What?" Alexianna blinked as Athena revived.

"... but, the monster loses one thousand attack power [2600/800 → 1600/800], and if the summon is successful, Shark Drake can attack once again during this battle phase." A small smile played around her lips as Setsuka finished her words, colder than perhaps even the ice itself. "Shark Drake, attack Athena once more with Depth Bite!"

Alexianna was knocked back once more under the punishing assault of the giant maroon shark.

Alexianna: LP 6100 → LP 4700

Setsuka: LP 8000

"This monster will bite you until even your bones are finished," Setsuka commented as she set a card. "Turn end."

"Strong..." Merci was frozen, stuck watching this battle. "This is the Cold Queen. The Duelist who ruled at the top of the Movement for nine years..."

"My turn... draw!" Alexianna called. "I activate Trade-In, allowing me to discard Darklord Superbia to draw two cards. Then, I'll activate the Spell, Heaven's Lost Property to let us both draw three cards and discard two. I move both Tokens to defence mode. Turn end."

"Draw," Setsuka murmured. "Hiding behind a shield?"

"I remember the same thing being said about our last Duel," Alexianna shot back.

"True," Setsuka dispassionately analysed her hand. "Activate Salvage, retrieving Nightmare Penguin and Guard Penguin from my graveyard to add to my hand. Then, I activate the Spell, Moray of Greed, allowing me to shuffle Water Attribute monsters such as Nightmare and Guard Penguin into my deck, and then draw three cards from my deck." She scanned the cards. "I summon Aurora Wing [1200/1600 → 1400/1800] to the field."

"What?" Alexianna commented as the monster unfurled its wings.

"Activate the Spell, Shien's Spy," Setsuka called. "This card transfers control of one monster I choose on my field to your control. Isn't this sweet? You get my Aurora Wing."

"N- No..." Alexianna's eyes widened as the monster fluttered from Setsuka's side to her field.

"No?" Setsuka whispered as Aurora Wing landed on the field. "Now... Shark Drake, attack Aurora Wing! Depth Bite!"

Alexianna: LP 4700 → LP 3100

Setsuka: LP 8000

"The effect of Shark Drake activates!" Setsuka laughed, her voice ringing on the capes as waves broke on the high cliffs overlooking the Arctic Ocean. "Return, Aurora Wing!"

The bird that appeared revived in a show of elegant grace [1400/1800 → 400/1800].

"Depth Bite!"

Alexianna: LP 3100 → LP 500

Setsuka: LP 8000

"And the effect of Aurora Wing itself activates," Setsuka murmured as Aurora Wing reappeared on her field. "Once per turn, upon destruction by battle, Aurora Wing can be revived in attack mode [1200/1600 → 1400/1800]. Aurora Wing, destroy that Asmo Token!"

Alexianna cringed as her token monster was destroyed.

"What's wrong? Isn't this thrilling?" Setsuka smirked as the rainbow bird flew back to her side of the field.

"This is inhumane!" Alexianna cried. "You would sacrifice your own monsters for victory?!"

"From one who loves to take her anger out on others... tell me, did they ever find out that it was you, Alexianna LeRouge?" Setsuka snapped. "You who blew up that underground gambling ring at thirteen years old, that is. You who led the gendarmes to that ring, and to Jean LeRouge. You, who threw your own brother into prison!"

"Oh, that's rich, coming from the greatest mass-murderer of the Arcadia Movement's history!" Alexianna retorted. "How many have you killed? For the case of Jean, time and again I've been told it was an accident. But you? There's no way you can escape justice."

"I forgot, but I suppose the number to be in the five hundreds," Setsuka smiled at Alexianna's stupefied expression. "Yes, I know. But it gets so impersonal after a while. The act of taking a life, that is. I am prepared, you see. To take a life, and to accept the consequences of doing so."

"You're mad," Alexianna whispered, shaking her head. "You've gone mad. Winter Queen or not, my opinion won't change now."

"You fear me," Setsuka pointed out. "Your opinion is merely that; based on fear."

"I feel sorry for you... and for the one who bears the same ring as you." Alexianna simply answered. "Does he know? Does he know... that Seika is dead?"

"Who..." Merci shook her head.

"I..." Setsuka's blue-green eyes flicked from side to side, the first time that the unwavering gaze had been shattered for once.

"The third head of the Oceanic Arcadia Movement, currently in The Hague facing-"

"What?" Setsuka's expression turned completely blank. "Where is he?"

"Now we're in trouble," Merci grumbled.

"Doesn't matter," Alexianna's weight shifted to her other leg. "There's an ocean and an island with the UK outpost on guard, as well as the guys at the Bastille. You won't get to it so easily. Not to Jimmy Cook. When the one you love is the one being threatened, it doesn't feel good, does it?"

"...true," the blank expression cracked into a smile that could only technically be called one. "It doesn't feel good... in fact... it makes me so mad!"

A howl of wind crashed across the cape, and with it the seas turned choppy. Tentacles and a veritable navy of monsters began to appear from the dark and cold waters of the Arctic Ocean, howling with a certain cold fury echoed in their monarch's laugh.

Alexianna took a step back from the insane laughter and cold, cold fury that threatened, sheer power that moiled like the grind of a glacier.

Chips of ice cracked as they hit the ground next to Setsuka. "I play the Spell, Monster Reborn!"

Blizzard Falcon glowed as it rose from the ground [1500/1500 → 1700/1700].

"By activating its monster effect, Blizzard Falcon will inflict fifteen hundred damage to you... and send you to a cold death," Setsuka whispered as a hail of jagged ice shards prepared to rain down upon Alexianna. "Blizzard Jet!"

Alexianna: LP 500 → LP 0

Setsuka: LP 8000

"Stop-!" Merci spread her arms out, shielding Alexianna by taking the brunt of the blast herself.

"... why?" Alexianna screamed at the body that stood between her and the barrage of icicles that could have impaled her fifteen times over. "Virgo... no, Merci..."

"Run..." Merci panted. "I name... I name Kaname Ishihara as the next leader of the N' Awlins. Take this information... run, Angel!"

"Information? What information-"

"You saw it! What the Winter Queen wanted... Run!" Blood speckled the ground as Merci spat out some more.

Alexianna's breath caught as she shut her tears and ran for the nearest boat. Silently, Setsuka watched her run, and as Merci Sophia sank to the ground, breathing her last onto the tundra of Ellesmere Island.

The Aurora Wing fluttered its tail feathers next to the Winter Queen. "_We're aren't chasing her, Your Majesty?_"

"... there's no reason to," Setsuka commented, watching as. "She'll be caught sooner or later."

"_But she has realised. Like Kannazuki Seika, she has discovered the heart of the Winter Queen. They see us. They hear us. They sense us. If they find it out..._"

"It's not like we keep it a secret, Khione," Setsuka commented, glaring at her own DuelDisk as it disappeared. "This loss of control... If you wish, then go stop her!"

"_As you say, My Queen._" the bird lowered its head in acknowledgement.

Waves broke, long and hard upon the coastline. A ship arose from the waters of the Arctic Ocean, the rigging stained with kelp and the grinning skulls on its figureheads mottled with moss and barnacles. Winds howled, as the armada of Winter gathered.

Setsuka sighed, as Khione took to the skies. "Time to get to work."

Alexianna clung to her DuelDisk in fear as she approached the coast, the silhouette of tentacles reaching out from the water a warning. "Asmodeus!"

Wings of black spread out behind her, and she took to the skies with a run, dodging as from behind the Aurora Wing circled like a bullet. Talons lashed out now and again, before the Aurora Wing fluttered above Alexianna to enter a steep dive.

"No, you don't," the Frenchwoman muttered, her legs dancing akimbo as she spun in free-fall. Dark mist shrouded her form for a brief second before the Aurora Wing dived through it, shriek of triumph cut off in mid-flight as the bird was burnt into a crisp by black flames that erupted out of nowhere.

Back on Cape Columbia, Setsuka barely flinched as the Aurora Wing reappeared by her side. "I told you so."

Down on the coast of the neighbouring Axel Heiburg Island, Alexianna landed on her feet, stumbling with a gasp for a brief moment. Having landed on her arse on the tundra, indigo eyes scanned the seas, the approaching tentacles and the armada throughout the coast. "Those eyes... they weren't green. They were... blue- oh."

A tear dropped onto the tundra, before she shook a map out and began mapping her way back to the nearest outpost.

* * *

_Sub-basement 3, Central Arcadia Movement Headquarters, La Castle,  
Neo Domino City, Republic of Japan  
28 October 20XX_

It might seem strange, but certain rooms were hidden in the basements of La Castle. Orion did not care for them or for possible uses, but even he appreciated their security features. The steel-framed door and solid construction meant that the interrogation room was essentially a waterproof steel box with very tiny vents. The placement of the building itself also meant that essentially the steel box was underwater. Any funny business could result in the entire structure being flooded with the waters of the Neo Domino Bay.

"I'm thinking of piranha," the Movement's resident Spirit expert commented, seated at the table opposite of Nikki and a weary-looking Cologne. "Big, man-eating piranha. I'd gamble that Shimotsuki had a few around, keep them to feed the bodies to."

"Counter-productive," Orion immediately dismissed. "Unleashing a school of piranha into the Bay would upset the local ecosystem and draw too much attention. Never mind that, anyway. What I need you to figure out, Princeton, is if what Princess Cologne claims is true."

"But it is!" Cologne insisted, wringing her hands. "The monarchs are literally incapable of acting against the will of their Courts. Their power is the Courts' power, but their will is that of the Courts. They are Summer and Winter."

"I don't get it," Nikki groaned. "I know that that woman is the Winter Queen, but... what do the seasons have to do with it?"

"How do I explain it..." Chase Princeton laced his fingers together, elbows planted on the table. "Okay. There are key cards in the history of Duel Monsters, right, Nikki? The Three Phantom Gods, the Three Illusion Demons, the Wicked Gods, the Signer Dragons, the Earthbound Gods, the Polar Gods etcetera. All of them represent a key aspect of Duel Monsters history, of a time of destiny between good and evil, light and darkness. With me so far?"

"You're not telling me anything different from what I know," Nikki scowled.

"I'm getting there," Chase retaliated. "My point is, these key monsters symbolise a specific era of Duel Monsters. They embody the ideals of that era, and nothing more than the extremes of light and darkness that existed during that time. Which is good, which is bad, which saves and which destroys. Do you understand?"

"Yeah..." Nikki nodded.

"But all of that are mutable facts that change with time," Chase continued. "What about the immutable? Life, and death, both of it is morally grey. No one can agree whether it is good, or bad, or if it saves, or destroys. The fact of their existence exists by itself, a solid fact nothing in nature can argue against. Life and death, day and night, summer and winter. These everyday parts, who change but at heart remain constant, are condensed into the ideas of Summer and Winter. Things that change but will come again in the future. Day after night, summer to winter, life until death. The Courts of Summer and Winter is constant change personified."

"That is one way of putting it," Cologne agreed quietly. "It... it goes back to our legacy, the times before and when humans and Duel Spirits first met and interacted. When wandering tribes first lived across the twelve dimensions, spirits were scattered, few alliances made; few nations were formed, few empires were built. Of course, much like your human society, our legacy was changed at a single turning point. One ambitious Duel Spirit rose to great power. That spirit, imbued with will so strong as to be a force of nature, gathered an army, seizing control of the tribes of Water. She conquered the tribes of Wind, and after that the tribes of Darkness became her domain too. Soon enough there was an empire that stretched across half the dimensions, far more than even the Legendary Ocean could dream of at its height. That was the story of the Ice Queen, first monarch of Winter; Queen Maeve."

"Ice Queen," Orion whispered. "T- The Duel Monster?"

"Yes," Cologne agreed quietly. "Whether her aim was simple domination or to transform herself into a goddess, no one could deny that Maeve was considered an unstoppable force. In response, the remaining tribes banded together to form its opposing enemy, the empire of Summer. It was led by the Queen of Autumn Leaves, the first ruler of Summer; Queen Titania. They met at last on the battlefield as Summer raised its standards of gold against the blue of Winter."

"They fought," Chase supplied.

"They fought," Cologne nodded. "Maeve and Titania clashed, for the first and last time. Maeve called on the darkness of night, the rapids of the wind and the force of water. Titania called upon the radiance of light, the tenacity of earth and the rage of fire. Titania fell by the hand of Maeve. Yet at the end, Titania's consort, the Green Phantom King, slew Maeve, at the cost of his own life by the hands of Winter's vassals. Both rulers, powerful enough to be forces below that of gods and the highest of demons... they were reborn, rose, and fought. Again and again, without end. Their very souls itself, it could be called, crystallised into Summer and Winter, forces of nature unto themselves that even the gods would find difficult to control. When such forces clashed..."

"Like a hurricane crashing with a glacier," Chase cut in. "Kaboom."

Cologne tilted her head. "The collateral damage had been akin to that. Whole worlds had been lain to waste before."

"What does this have to do with our situation, anyway?" Orion cut in. "I mean, not that it's boring, but... how is it relevant?"

"Mortals," Cologne murmured. "Always rushing, always running against time itself."

"Get to it, please," Nikki glared, but was elbowed by Orion quietly.

"In the end, the battles of brute force ended in a deadlock, and from there it developed into games," Cologne whispered, watching her hands as they began flickering in and out of sight in her lap. "Games of cleverness, manipulation, and with the disappearance of the faery and spirit from the human world, ways to exert influence from the _geas_ of the gods' collective wills."

"Champions," Orion whispered.

"Agents of light or darkness," Cologne said. "Neither monarch could be permitted to involve themselves directly amongst humans, so they used agents. Spiritual partners imbued with the powers of Summer and Winter, scattered throughout the years of civilisation. Each and every time, a game between spirits, a game of immortals. But..."

Cologne frowned lightly. "I am unsure of how to explain the current situation."

"The rules have changed," Chase supplied for her.

"Yes... exactly," Cologne nodded. "Sight was granted to all of humanity, and in exchange the old rules that barred spirits from direct intervention were broken. Neither ruler has need to restrain themselves now. Nor do we spirits who would take back our place on earth."

"It doesn't sound like there's a difference between either Court," Orion pointed out.

"Depends," Chase shook his head. "Summer is the generally nicer, warmer ones who give you notice _before_ they burn you to a crisp. Winter's the nasty, colder types who don't fight fair. If you can't tell, Shimotsuki's Winter."

"So, when you said that she's the Winter Queen..." Nikki slowly echoed.

"I mean, that the monarchs, the Winter Queen and the Summer King, are literally the rulers of _thousands_ of Duel Spirits," Chase finally pronounced. "I mean, that their power puts them on something you can't comprehend. It's about the closest thing to a force of nature we can understand."

"So you're telling me," Orion slowly began, "that my cousin, the Setsuka I knew, somehow personified herself into a Duel Spirit of a force of nature, in fact, into _the_ force of Winter, and right now the inter-world war breaking out is just a result of some fucking ritual that gave every human on Earth the Sight but left them unable to _bloody_ well defend themselves against inhuman predators?!"

"The current monarchs are aberrations; Changelings born into the human world with the souls of old spirits," Cologne answered. "Nevertheless, they are the King of Land and Light and the Queen of Air and Darkness respectively, and must follow all their rules that the monarchs are bound to, even the ones that dictate that they cannot directly harm one unconnected to either Court. That was the secret I came to deliver to the spirit-caller, until I was waylaid by Jareth."

"Jareth?" Nikki echoed.

"The Goblin King," Cologne clarified. "Merely one of many Goblin Kings, but the only one to have landed a baronetcy in the Winter Court."

Chase tilted his head, ignoring the very glaring jibe. "There's one thing I don't get."

"Enquire."

"That the Winter Queen can now hurt people unrelated to the Courts is... nothing new," Chase continued, staring at the blonde Duel Spirit. "In fact, she's been practising that all year. It's a non-issue to Winter whether we knew that she couldn't hurt people before, unless we know why, and if there's a way to repair the damage. We don't fucking know, you're not giving us that information in appreciable detail, and it takes a bit long, so I'm going to leave _that_ to the Duel mythologists. What I am thinking is, why would she even send a minion to waylay a messenger delivering information we _already_ know?"

Cologne's eyes glimmered, and Orion stepped close to the wall console. "You are intelligent, aren't you?"

"Five, six years getting burnt, you learn things," Chase dismissed. "Thing is, the guy's a Winter minion. Either he went after you independently, which is more likely than I'd care to admit, or you're not giving us all of the information. Which is equally likely."

"She's been pretty level so far," Nikki pointed out.

"Yes, if we take her angle, that the Winter Queen couldn't hurt people," Chase corrected. "But why would a Duel Spirit, one who admits that she cares nothing for us, risk her life to bring useless information? Why would the Goblin King come after her? Let's say that the Goblin King knew that she was onto something. Something dangerous to Winter, something that could mean the end of the Winter invasion, something Cologne knows. Meaning that it's huge and it's going to blow up the spirit world, so either she's running from it, or she's moving herself into a more advantageous position."

Cologne bit her lip and said nothing.

"So, now that the big secret is out, maybe you'll play on the straight and narrow that just because you're a fucking doll doesn't mean I'll pity you," Chase scoffed.

Cologne mutinously looked away.

"I trusted you," Nikki whispered. "Cologne-"

"Everything would have remained a non-issue to the rest of humanity, until the third Changeling came to be involved," Cologne stiffly admitted.

Chase's jaw set as he set a fist onto the table. "Seika."

"The daughter of Sophia the Star-Creator," Cologne nodded. "Ordinarily I would not have understood her reasoning, nor would I have had reason to involve myself with the high powers that govern my world. Unfortunately, the fate of my kingdom has been placed in jeopardy by her actions."

"Right," Chase crossed his arms.

"As I speak, Summer prepares for war."

"War with... Winter?" The confident façade was gone; Chase's arms curled around himself defensively. "Again? The last one was-"

"A battle," Cologne cut in. "A battle to correct a balance. The last battle took place against very... notable weather circumstances in the human world the year before the last."

"The freak storm over Neo Domino?" Orion asked. "Yeah, heard about it. People were saying that it was a tropical front clashing with Arctic cold. You mean..."

"Yes," Cologne bluntly replied. "I _did_ say that they were the passing of the seasons. If they did not, humanity would suffer either an ice age or an era of rampant growth."

"The last one doesn't sound so bad," Nikki nonchalantly pointed out.

Chase coughed. "It's not bad, if you're an Ebola virus. You'll have lots of friends."

"Oh..."

Cologne nearly folded her hands in her lap. "The balance _must_ remain constant. Although the traditional boundaries are gone, the Courts _must_ act in concert. Hence, following Winter's actions, Summer must move, either to check Winter's advance..."

"Or?" Nikki demanded.

"...or take their own part of the mortal world from which their assault upon Winter can be continued," Chase finished. "It's the only logical conclusion..."

"... Yes," Cologne stiffly admitted. "I... My kingdom, my dolls, and Doll House, will be taken into Summer, and my friends will become the soldiers on the front line. Should we refuse, we will be declared as Wild, and of neither alliance... at which the darkest of Winter's predators will fall upon us. Should we agree, we will fight, and we will still face Winter's overwhelming strength. I will see my comrades fall and die. Again, and again, and again... until they come for me in the end."

"So Duel Spirits also have differing opinions," Orion muttered.

"What were you thinking?" Chase muttered. "Even with this information..."

"I would have offered everything I knew about the geas," Cologne answered. "With the presence of salvation within reach, most humans would not pause to think it over."

"Then we'd have gone on a wild goose chase," Nikki growled. "You'd have lied to us to get what you wanted."

"Spirits do not lie," Cologne answered.

"You sure have a hell of a way of twisting the truth, though," Chase shrugged. "Anything we would have done would have thrown us in unprepared against Winter."

"She lied and the two of you... you're fine with it?!" Nikki screeched at Chase and Orion.

"They aren't human," Orion answered calmly, quietly. "There's no point holding her to our morals. She did what she thought was logical."

"I've met worse dolls," Chase shrugged. "Plus, this is a lead worth looking into. If there's a way we can arrange for Summer's alliance with us, we could have a chance at beating back Winter."

"Right," Orion sighed. "Thanks, Princeton. Cologne, you stay with Nikki or me. We're getting out of this frankly very precarious room."

"Hunter... you're fine, right?" Nikki froze at Chase's unexpectedly tender question towards her new mentor's back. "She's an unknown Duel Spirit. We don't even know what she can do, what is her power, so..."

"...No, I'm not," Orion answered. "But it's obvious we're not going to get any answers tonight, not until I've managed to infer all possible information from these hints."

"W- Wait, Orion-san!" Nikki ran after him, panting. "Why are you following me?!" she shouted about five seconds after she had lost him.

"Shouldn't I?" Cologne tilted her head, walking sedately beside Nikki despite the latter being at a jog. "The spirit-caller's own partner is not a friendly sort."

"I hate you!" Nikki yelled. "All of you spirits, none of you are good. All of you just look out for yourselves, and walk on and leave the bodies of your victims behind. I..."

Cologne's expression did not change. "You have lost someone close to you."

"Who hasn't?" Nikki scoffed.

"I have not." The silver-haired girl paused at the simple declarative statement. "We spirits are reborn should we die. All things end, but for us it is much, much longer."

"S- So... when you said that your friends would fight... was it true?" Nikki asked.

"Eternity alone is more frightening than an end," was the simple answer.

"You didn't answer my question."

"You didn't ask for an answer."

"Are you going to give me circular answers every time I'm trying to make conversation?" Nikki impatiently muttered.

"That depends if the questions you ask result in circular answers."

"Why are you so irritating?"

"Why are you so ignorant?" Cologne did not look sweet or innocent, the Lolita dress turned Gothically malevolent in its shifting as the blonde stared back evenly, blue into wide green eyes. "That you cannot ask the right questions?"

"Then if you already know what I want to say, why don't you say it?"

"Because I have no obligation to you," Cologne replied.

"I saved your life!" Nikki accused. "I have a right to know!"

"No, you don't," Cologne answered. "It is an incorrect assumption of humans that the world revolves around yourselves. It does not."

"You're following me," Nikki retorted. "I'm the one who's going to be troubled. If you want to keep following me, you're going to have to-" The trembling floor under her feet gave her pause. "W- What was that? Earthquake?"

Cologne's head tilted, before she faced the ceiling, a little monolith of black silk even as the ground trembled. "Two- three have broken into the Tower. Hostile, malevolent forces."

"But- how did they get in?!" Nikki whispered, shaking.

"I do not know, nor do I have foreknowledge," Cologne answered. "I can only sense their hate and intent to harm. The pretenders of power around you are skilled, but it will take much loss of human life before the beast is put down. I suppose the correct method would be to seek shelter."

"Then we have to warn everyone!" Nikki protested. "O- Otherwise..."

"That is what they do," Cologne agreed. "Shall we?"

"W- What?" Nikki stared at her.

"Seek shelter," Cologne patiently explained. "We must return to ground level and then seek shelter. There might be people we could find to explain such arrangements too."

"T- Then what about the monsters?" Nikki demanded. "People might die!"

"Rationally speaking, those spirits moved in a non-strategic manner by attacking home territory," Cologne answered, walking at a sedate pace which Nikki followed with only after a moment of hesitation. "Winter is anything but non-strategic. In short, they are deviants, who would shortly be erased, though with some trouble. Though if they could break into this fortified stronghold, they must be more powerful than Jareth."

"More powerful than- he tore up an entire highway!" Nikki screeched.

"Some of that was you, and you killed him after a very long Duel," Cologne corrected. "You cannot face off against three and expect to escape unscathed."

"I can't!" Nikki shouted back. "I can't just run and then leave everyone to fight! I joined the Movement for this reason; to fight!"

"Today was pure luck," Cologne pointed out. "I am likely being watched by your organisation's surveillance. Should I prove a threat to them, my life is likely forfeit. I will not risk myself in your scheme, but I shall not stop you."

"Then what will you do?" Nikki asked as Cologne took a few more steps. "Will you keep running?"

"My fighting ability is limited in this form," Cologne motioned to herself. "In my circumstances, the first priority would be to form a spiritual contract with a human Duelist capable of Sight and holding of a passion compatible with myself."

"Why?" Nikki's eyes narrowed. "You were running from the Goblin King..."

"The Goblin King's combat ability outweighs mine, which is weighed heavily towards defence," Cologne elaborated. "Most spirits do not hold the strength of will to resist power, especially the monarchs. To continually maintain solidity, I am forced to sacrifice other parts of my abilities."

"So..." Nikki tilted her head. "No, I mean... why form a contract? And why not do it now? I'm a human, I can make a contract with you...!"

"A contract takes part of the powers of the Spirits, and grants it to the Duelists," Cologne whispered. "That power could be will, an ability, a card, or luck in battle. In exchange for that power, that Duelist must fulfil one request, one wish close to the heart of the Spirits. A contract not only requires the human to acknowledge the spirit's permanent presence in their lives, but also grants them the unenviable position of belonging to neither world, either of mortal or immortal kind. Furthermore, the resulting bond formed would be closer and far more intimate than anything physically achievable. To break it would be to damage or change something irrevocable within both Duelist and Duel Monster. It is not as simple a changing a deck, or of deciding to stay now, only to back out later. There is no turning back. There is no reversal. There is no way to break the contract... until its end."

"That's... that's pretty bad," Nikki muttered, walking behind her. "Where are you going-?"

They entered the main foyer, where the hallways were deserted. Outside, the glass doors shone with the polish of regular cleaning, reflecting a dim sunset overhead.

"We are here," Cologne tonelessly said.

"That's strange..." Nikki's eyes narrowed. "Did you know this place?"

"Perhaps by memory," Cologne's eyes were distant. "My creator told me that the original soul and intent of my will was once human. If I was created by human will, it might not be strange for me to hold that human's memories."

"H- Human?" Nikki blinked. "Y- You were made... by a human?"

"_From _a human," Cologne corrected. "Not all Spirits are manifestations, just as no two humans are identical. According to my creator, I would be... once human."

"That's- Ah!" Nikki flinched as a shadow passed over the glass doors and walls caved in with a sudden crack of sound.

"That's..." Cologne's face changed orientation as she moved towards Nikki, grabbing the Duelist's arm to haul her back. The spiked tip stabbed into the partition, causing the wall to cave in where Nikki would have been standing.

"Oh, that's interesting," a soft coo giggled from behind them as Cologne and Nikki turned around. The woman holding the whip smirked as she absently licked the blank bladed handle of her weapon, her pointed ears showing up between midnight-blue locks to show her clear inhumanity. Her long-sleeved green dress swished around her knees, belted with a red belt at her waist and hardly an impediment to her movement. "Not many humans should have been able to predict that whip. Then again... you're not really a human, are you, girl?"

"Beautiful Beast Trainer," Cologne assessed. "Yes, I am not human."

"A traitor, then?" The Beast Trainer licked her lips. "How did you enter?"

"As all usually do; the front door. The question should be, how did _you_?" Cologne challenged.

"It's sweet, defiant little children," Her tongue played out. "Little children should just be seen and not _heard_!"

The next whip-crack had Cologne planting herself squarely in its path, the obstacle deflecting before it hit as if bouncing off of an invisible shield.

"Pride demands we settle this as spirits do," Cologne glared at the Beast Trainer. Her aura of power was quiet and intense, but under that Nikki could sense worry.

"Why?" the Beast Trainer reasoned. "You don't have a connection to that human, do you? If you want a fight I can give it."

"True... I have no reason to protect," Cologne agreed. "However, you would have attacked me without a second thought, so... I will not forgive you."

"Cologne... didn't you say you can't fight?" Nikki whispered.

Cologne turned back at her, and briefly a smile crossed her solemn, porcelain features. "I live in a world of immortals, where gods roam amongst the stars. Where there are beings that could erase reality with but a mere thought, that could bend time to their will and free you from having ever being born. You're right. I can't fight. But neither can I leave while my obligation to the Movement holds. So don't take this as goodwill. I just want to save my kingdom."

_I will not forgive you..._

When Cologne turned to face the Beast Trainer, Nikki saw dark hair that was worn loose, indigo eyes and a cute face that was constantly sad for all of the time she had seen it, except for that one instance when Kannazuki Seika had leapt into the fray to save her from a rogue Psychic.

Cologne raised a hand in challenge. "Shall we begin?"

* * *

_**Please review!**_


	4. III: Rear-Guard Action

_**Grisaille Gaol**_

* * *

**III: Rear-Guard Action**

_3__rd__ Floor, Central Arcadia Movement Headquarters, La Castle,  
Neo Domino City, Republic of Japan  
28 October 20XX_

It took about a minute of stomping up through the hallways to remember leaving his newest junior with a rather dangerous Duel Spirit. About the same time he had such a revelation, he ran into Nakamura. That, and a sullen-faced Yuuko behind the butler asking for said student of his.

"She's... somewhere," Orion glanced towards Yuuko as the older man did a disappearing act somewhere. "Can I help you, Captain?"

"Where did you go?" Yuuko demanded, glaring at him. "You're her cousin, her guardian!"

"Actually, her guardian was Nakamura-san," Orion weakly replied in the face of her fury. He was mutely cursing the oldest living member of the Movement. "And... we fell out. You've been aware..."

"Don't play coy," Yuuko snapped. "My family moved to Hokkaido! How would I have found out-" Yuuko sputtered. "Anyway, you couldn't control her?! She was a _child_!"

Orion held back the sigh threatening his mouth. "Can we take this to the office?"

"I am going to continue badgering _you_," Yuuko swore. "Until you give me an account for _why_ you neglected your _only_ _living_ _family_ for the past _eleven_ _years_-"

"Captain, let's take this to my office," Orion cut her off. "We wouldn't you of being unprofessional now, would we?"

"...no." Yuuko glared at him, but the shouting ceased as he led her to the elevator.

They went up a level in stiff silence before they entered a long hallway. At the end stood a door of black wood. Beside it, Orion tapped in a code on the console, discreet in placing his thumb on the printed 7 on the corner. The door clicked open into the opulent and most infamous office space of the entire Movement, perhaps of Neo Domino itself.

Princeton had called here the Oblong Office. Having never been a reader of Pratchett, Orion failed to comprehend it. The name had stuck regardless, suitable as the office which his aunt, his cousin and his near-stranger of a nearly-adopted cousin had taken over. Most of the furnishings were monochrome. Cabinets of black and white, belted in steel and fronted with glass – and probably filled with corrosive gas, according to Nakamura's assessment of his cousin's paranoia – lined one wall. The other wall was taken up by a low cabinet as well, topped with a small fountain. The desk that stood at the end faced a long couch and a coffee table. The black top was matte and non-reflective, as a contrast to the mirror-smooth surface of the coffee table. A PC monitor took the left half; the other half was strewn over with a writing set, a box for holding cards, and an intercom console. Orion carefully averted his eyes from the nearest spackling on the wall that the fountain failed to hide.

It looked immaculate, for a space in which any number of illegal acts might have been committed in the name of the Movement.

"This is... well," Yuuko seemed at a loss. "This was..."

"My aunt's old office, her office, Seika's office..." Orion's voice trailed off, but he ploughed on, "...now mine. Door's closed. Do you want a drink?"

Yuuko refused one, and Orion made a mental note to check the sachets for poisoning. "Well then, Captain Kaname... it looks like we aren't here to discuss the Kurosagi business, Kaname. You can rag me now."

"Where did you go?" Yuuko whispered. "I didn't know. My parents only told me after high school, said that they didn't want to distract me. I thought... I thought she'd been crying at their graves, she was... so childish, so attached to Mr Shimotsuki. And Seika, I thought... Seika already lost her father once, and to lose one more set of parents must have broken her heart. I moved back to Neo Domino about five years ago. I did university, I joined the police academy to help people out and to find out about her, but... she was the Cold Queen by then. Fourteen years old and already the most feared non-criminal in the NDPD. I couldn't find Seika, it's like Setsuka erased all records of her, or you."

"I travelled the world to find a cure for her." Orion shortly replied. "Apparently, the only reason I got the packages I needed came from Nakamura-san being ordered to keep me away on a wild goose's chase. I get that you didn't realise... my late aunt and uncle... being in Hokkaido, but surely you visited her once or twice?"

"I did," Yuuko grimly replied. "I feel... so guilty. Would I have made a difference? I thought... maybe she would. She didn't..." Yuuko gave a choked sob. "She knew I was back the first time I saw her. She didn't want to see me; she made that very clear to me. Have you ever been told, straight to the face, that you were _dead_ to her the moment you left Neo Domino?"

"I was declared legally dead after I left," Orion answered. "Yes, her actions made that quite clear to me. Nakamura-san kept me on... diplomatically extraneous trips, so the trail was quite messed up. No one realised that I was travelling as a dead man. I have the certificate and everything."

"What happened?" Yuuko echoed. "What... changed?"

"Have you ever won an argument against her?" Orion rhetorically asked. "I guess not, but that's not my point. We fell out, over the Movement. She wanted control of it, and Nakamura-san was not an able guardian. I expressed my strongest opinion of that, and I would have involved family law in it if Setsuka hadn't brought up Arcadia politics. We fought, I lost, and she threw me in hospital for the next two months. There was no way, after losing in front of the entire Movement, that they'd accept my leadership, and then... it was too late. I left DA, I started travelling, to find a way, any way, to help her. I found out about what she did then. A worldwide network of Arcadia Movements solidified from an informal arrangement to a credible force. She... did a lot of things."

"I know," Yuuko's voice cracked. "I- Interpol agents came. I saw her files as liaison. They say that right now her kill count could be somewhere in the five hundreds... and… that the figure was just a conservative estimate... they don't know where the bodies are. There's no evidence."

"There wouldn't be," Orion confirmed quietly. "But... I'm sure you don't care already. Even though you don't know if it's worth it."

"H- How did you know?" Yuuko echoed.

"You're wearing a charm bracelet bearing a snowflake," Orion pointed out. "A contrast with the rest of regulation uniform; ergo, a violation, but you're high-enough rank to get away with it despite your young age. Add that snowflakes fell out of fashion and into disfavour since Winter's appearance in Russia and at the UN, and the fact that as a police officer you bear the symbol of an enemy, one of all humanity at that. The fact that you're still wearing it means that the snowflake not only did not offend you, but the wear around its edges shows a lot of tear, as does the star, which shows frequent wearing. Sentimental value. But the maintenance of it is low, barely any polishing except for the clasp."

Yuuko's eyes narrowed at him. "Are you trying to play Sherlock Holmes with me?"

"I am stating a fact," Orion answered. "You were the woman who was acquaintances with a young Shimotsuki Setsuka directly before the massacre, who knew of the defection, and who then fired the bullet at Shimotsuki which then missed and hit the unfortunate Yuuki Ayame, may she rest in peace. Altogether an unfortunate position to be in, especially for a Captain as beautiful as she is capable of slugging me in the face."

"I know kick-boxing and I'm not afraid to use it."

"I can tell," Orion nodded. "You're here about... NicoletteKurosagi?"

"Hunter, it's..." Yuuko sighed. "I just poured out my heart to you and you want to jump into business already? That disconnect is... startling."

"It's related to Setsuka," Orion sighed, waiting. "You're here because you think Kurosagi is involved in vigilantism within the city limits."

"They're... not new," Yuuko muttered. "Usually, we get frequent reports of Psychic brutality, but the Movement justified it as self-defence, and it was always in front of CCTV, never premeditated or anything to suggest that it was anything but self-defence. But... we've been getting reports that say otherwise. That hooligans have been finding themselves in danger of being beaten by real monsters, that a masked figure has been running about. We don't know anything other than that she has silver hair and that from her actions, it's clear that she's a Queens student."

"And Nicolette is the only silver-haired Psychic studying in Queens," Orion pondered. "Of course, you have silver hair too."

Yuuko tugged at her own locks. "Precisely. So I'm looking into this case in my spare time."

"First, approaching Kurosagi openly is one way to get yourself slapped with an official complaint," Orion sighed. "I know her type; she's dangerously obsessed with revenge against Setsuka. She's got her guard up against you now."

"I know but... is she?" Yuuko asked.

Orion paused. "As the head of the Arcadia Movement, I am not at liberty to confirm or deny any accusations made of any member of the Arcadia Movement."

"Then as a concerned senior?" Yuuko prompted.

"She's... idealistic," Orion reluctantly admitted. "Strong ideals, strong moral base, very weak social interaction since Seika... she's the type to defy social norms for what she believes is right. Now that she's a certified combat Psychic at Class III, she could do some serious work if she wanted. She doesn't sociologically conform to norms, and she's prone to freezing under pressure, even with advice and an even hand. Granted, she did well today against a Duel Spirit, but my main issue is that she's reckless in her thinking."

"Exactly like a teenage vigilante," Yuuko considered. "Wait, what Duel Spirit are we talking about? Were you involved in the highway incident? Was _Kurosagi_ involved?"

"We don't know that," Orion fibbed, his eyes flicking up as the lights flickered. Yuuko's eyes followed his view.

"Is there something wrong with the electricity?" The enquiry was posed with clear uncertainty.

"No..." Orion's eyes widened as the floor trembled under his feet.

The intercom rang.

_"__Attention to everyone. The Movement is currently under fire. This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill. Please move in a calm and orderly manner to the prearranged shelters. Seniors will guide their juniors to the arranged safe rooms immediately.__"_

_"__Under _fire?" Yuuko echoed. "This was... those five deaths two years ago. Seika-"

"Chances are it's deliberate." Orion muttered as he went to the door, and it opened. Yuuko followed him out, the two of them defaulting towards the stairs at a dead run. A ball of fire sparked in Orion's hand, the Psychic defaulting to one landing where a door awaited.

"I think I'm getting to why this place is described as a small militia," Yuuko murmured as she followed behind him, drawing her gun.

"No fire in the hall," Orion assessed, touching the door. The feeling of being hunted had increased, even as they took the stairs and ran two or three at a time. The emergency strips glowed a dull red on either side, and combined with Orion's light they could find their way.

Something went off. Loud, steady _WOOF... WOOF... WOOF... _with the mechanical regularity of a metronome. Saying that it was _barking _might give the general shape of things, but it does not convey the scale, a living sonic cascade that rattled the brain against the skull. There were twelve painfully loud barks, and then it stopped, echoes ringing in the sudden silence that followed.

"Why do you have attack protocols?" Yuuko demanded. "In fact, why was there such a warning?"

"We just exist. In that respect, we're a lot like Israel. Except without compulsory military training." Orion panted. "They brought the fight _here_, in the middle of the Daimon Area?"

A hush of murmurs, growing louder, and then Orion and Yuuko turned a corner to see it. Yuuko barely stifled her gasp.

The monster glared balefully at them. It was a squat, ugly thing, its piggy head topped with small conical ears that brushed the fluorescent frames overhead. Its skin-coloured flesh wriggled in places, and the most horrific was across it stomach, where threads hung distended, the flaps of flesh separating to reveal several more vaguely humanoid shadows bursting forth from the flesh with a boggy _pop_.

"W- What... is that _thing_?!" Yuuko screeched.

"Hell Gate Deeg, normal monster," Orion recited. "'_This weird monster has a portal in its belly that brings reinforcements from the farthest reaches of the netherworld_.' Release run limited, Japan only. This... this monster was considered old since the time of Old Domino City. Then..."

"It's... a gate?" Yuuko sputtered. "T- Then... those things- are monsters! If they get out... we'll have a situation on our hands!"

Orion fished out his phone. "Attention, Arcadia. This is Polaris speaking. We have located a Hell Gate Deeg within the building on the west wing of the eighth floor. All Duelists are to be on the lookout for strange monsters or Duelists hanging around. Brute force recommended. Senior Duelists are to perform a sweep at first convenience which I shall order after the disposal of this monster. Over and out."

With a single click of the phone, the fireball in his other hand grew in intensity before Orion launched it. A crack resounded, and Orion was barely able to dodge the whip flying for him.

"Oh, that's no good, man," the man holding the whip chuckled, his red Arabic-style dress at odds with the darkness of the shadows played out across the wide hallway. Orion could make out pearly white teeth against swarthy skin, just a side of too-feral. "You've got to let it loose, man. Lady," he nodded to Yuuko, grinning to show clear contempt. "The Lady said so. A present for the Arcadia Movement."

"I'm sorry, but your present does not conform to human standards of giving," Orion replied. "Could you just package a book instead? Or a nice rock. We'll even let you take this... Gate back, no charge."

_The smile dropped, and false cheer was immediately replaced with feral anger. "Her Majesty gifted your pathetic coalition of power pretenders with this, and you reject it?"_

"Uh... yeah," Orion nodded. "I'm not up to feeding it. I'm not quite intending to. And I'm not going to let anymore of you into Neo Domino so... I reject it. Thrice spoken; now I'm serious."

The Monster Tamer howled, his whip giving a crack as it broke the sound barrier towards Orion, who threw up a card. The mechanical spring lashed back, and the Monster Tamer gave a surprised howl as Orion's counter landed him through the wall beside him... and the next... and the next... and down...

"Damn the open foyer," Orion stated with great feeling, turning to the Gate and cracking his knuckles as he stepped through the holes and peeked out carefully. "Captain Kaname, my newest student is currently downstairs. Please run to apprehend our newest suspect while I deal with the nearest threat at hand."

"R- Right..." Yuuko's voice shook, quietly dying as she ran off, her footsteps unsteady.

Orion reached through the holes, pulling from his belt his deck, rifling through the well-worn cards and picking five specific chosen. Sighing, he arranged them; left arm and leg, right arm and leg, and with a pause, the head of Exodia grinned at him. His left eye sparked, gold under the blue eyes of the Hunters. The mark of Exodia's contract burned.

_So soon? _The quietly promising voice wheedled.

"It's a Gate," Orion muttered, facing the swollen beast and its pregnant pauses. "I need to destroy it and everything with it."

A sigh more intimate than anything within the bar halls of New Orleans echoed. _Thou wist the price for using my power. Of course, the Winter Queen bested thee, and through theeI. My part of the contract is yet to be fulfilled... and neither has thy end of the bargain, hunter mine._

"We discussed this," Orion whispered. "I will fulfil... my part of the contract... when you have yours done. I did this... to save Setsuka from the Winter Queen. That's it."

_That would require thou to kill the Winter Queen. Winter cannot be killed, nor its Queen until the conjunctions are met. All-hallows Eve is the conjunction thou must act; thou must not tarry._

"Then help me. Destroy the Gate and its denizens. Our deal shall be concluded in the future."

_And what will thou give me in exchange? Thy legs? Thy arms? I grow weary of this bargaining game, hunter mine, when thou hast awareness of what. I. Want._

"You wanted the sacrifice of the one I love," Orion whispered. "She's dead."

_I do not mean the Hunter woman who shared your bloodline! _The voice roared, the sounds a mental echo that only Orion heard. _Thine heart never loved her, thou _admired_ her. Thou admired the father you never knew, until thine heart were made aware of what he tried to do, how he died by the hands of his own contractor. Thou admired the aunt you had, and you liked the uncle she married, and perhaps, you did love the daughter of that aunt, the other who holds your blood. That time is past; thine heart holds no love for the one you wish to defeat._

"I don't have anyone to love," Orion admitted. "And I can't think that you want to be controlled. Since you reminded me in the past tense, I assume you want to renegotiate."

_Perhaps I want thine heart. There is a darkness in it, is there not? In thy memories, your late aunt, the vivacious one; she oft spoke of thy leadership at the first meeting. How thee inspired many. Of course, the very inspiration of thy hand led to that unfortunate accident, was it?_

"After I'm finished. Of course, there's nothing stopping you from taking it now, but in that case you haven't fulfilled your end of the bargain, so you'll be breaking your own covenant."

_That would indeed be disappointing, _the voice murmured, almost intimate. _I can wait, hunter mine. Until thy iron shell of determination has been worn by time and disappointment, then thou will return to I. Time is something I can afford, unlike thee._

"You can have my corpse when I'm dead," Orion snapped, facing the pulsing, almost ravenous gate-monster. "Either help me or go do whatever it is you do being stuck in that hell-hole I found you in. And quit the old-speak, I know you know how to speak modern languages."

_One day I will eat your heart, freshly plucked, _the ghost of Exodia left his dark promise, the cards in Orion's hand gleaming a faint gold. _Today you still have worth._

"Not today, you creepy bastard," Orion muttered, raising the cards. "Exodia... _obliterate!_"

A hand of golden armour condensed, slamming into the gate and its denizens, splattering the hallway in a fountain of blood. No scream could have made it in time before Exodia's judgement had been exercised.

_One day, _Exodia's ghost promised, leaving a bestial promise as it disappeared.

Cards showered onto the ground, untouched by ichor as Orion shuddered, leaning against the nearest wall before he began stumbling towards the nearest staircase.

* * *

_Main Foyer, Ground Floor, Central Arcadia Movement Headquarters, La Castle,  
Neo Domino City, Republic of Japan  
29 October 20XX (0001 hours)_

The whip had left several scores in the walls and desk, and some of the glass panels had shattered by its action. Yet, Nikki could only stare as the Duel Spirit named Princess Cologne deflected crack after crack with something that resembled a bizarre mix of Taiji and arm-flailing.

"The tribe of Fairies? No wonder," the Beautiful Beast Tamer scoffed. "The defences of your kind is infamous. Even so, I notice you keep protecting that human girl, and only that human girl."

"I owe a debt of life," Cologne promptly answered. "To her, and her alone."

"So if I attack anywhere but the girl, you have no quarrel with me?"

"No."

"Then that's fine," the Tamer scoffed, but then she jumped aside as a body crashed down from above the main foyer. "What- Egemen!"

"Andromache," the figure growled from the centre of its crater of the marble floor. "The dog of Exodia... he's here..."

"Cologne, you can defeat them, right?" Nikki asked.

"I have no reason to."

"What?"

"I have no reason to," Cologne clarified to her face. "Aside from our debt, I have no reason to expend more power than necessary."

"But you're the reason they're here!" Nikki cried.

"You killed Jareth," Cologne reminded her. "I have no grudge against them."

"Jareth?" the Beautiful Beast Trainer, Andromache, cocked her head. "What's that green pea doing now?"

Cologne's expression turned to one of confusion. "I presume then that you were unaware of the Goblin King's plans."

"Egemen," Andromache spoke aloud. "What shall we do? This..."

"We weren't paid by the lady for combat," Egemen's growl rumbled in the air. "Scatter, we'll regroup at Old Domino."

Andromache flinched. "But, Egemen, it's the Winter Court!"

"Dammit, I-"

Suddenly a shot rang out. The smoking barrel was held up, Yuuko's expression resolved as the business end of the gun was kept trained on Andromache, the only Duel Spirit there standing. "NDPD! Hands in the air!"

"Captain Kaname..." Nikki shivered.

Andromache lashed out, the gun flying in the air before the Duel Spirit caught it, aiming with a single arm. The crack of the whip resounded as she licked her lips, thumbing the hammer back...

_...Shimotsuki Setsuka... killed her..._

"I'll make a contract!" Nikki screamed. "Stop her!"

The bullet itself pinged as it met the palm of a Duel Spirit. In a twist of lace, the blonde princess had moved, facing the other spirit.

"What?" Yuuko blinked. "W- Why-? How did you move so fast-?"

"Promise," Cologne murmured as her form dissolved, "that you won't default. That you won't fail. _Please_."

"I promise," Nikki quickly answered, her DuelDisk unfolding. "I promise, Cologne. In exchange for granting me the power to fight, I'll save your kingdom! I _promise_!"

"Oh, a Duel?" the Beast Trainer looked confused but slightly pleased. "Now? Egemen, it looks like you'll have to report back alone. I have a Duel to settle here."

"I got it," the straggled Monster Tamer groaned as he crawled out of the crater. "Andromache..."

"I know," the Duel Spirit impatiently replied.

Egemen flipped out, surprising in his speed as he dashed for the doors.

"Wait!" Yuuko gave chase, leaving Nikki facing Andromache alone in the foyer.

A DuelDisk shimmered into existence upon the Beast Trainer's arm.

"Duel!"

* * *

_Royal Flush Street, Daimon Area,  
Neo Domino City, Republic of Japan  
29 October 20XX (0005 hours)_

"Where did he go?" Yuuko mumbled fretfully, scanning the darkened street. The streetlights on either side of the usually well-lit area had been blown out, throwing iot entirely into darkness.

Placing her gun back into her shoulder holster, Yuuko barely paid heed as her instincts came into the fray and she flipped the monster standing behind her, before retreating to place her back against the nearest tree.

"Interesting," the red-clothed Duel Monster, the Monster Tamer, mumbled, glaring down at the squishy beast that Yuuko had flipped. "Of course, a Humanoid Slime has little offensive power, but the fact that a human could defeat it so easily is shocking."

"I practice kick-boxing," Yuuko defended, producing her badge. "Captain Kaname Yuuko, Neo Domino Police Department. Under the authority of Neo Domino City, you are placed under arrest for disturbing the peace, aggravated assault and any other charge I can think of the moment I drag you back to Central. Should you attempt escape by Duel, that the combined Arcadia Movement and the NDPD has the authority to ignore the Forbidden Lists where needed to protect the population-"

She barely dodged the whip flicked at her. "Authority, human authority that barely lasts a generation?" Egemen contemptuously snorted as the leather coiled again. "Your authority goes for very little amongst my kind, little fighter for justice. I am not human, I refuse to acknowledge your authority."

Yuuko put her badge away, brought up her gun, and fired without hesitation. The bang was followed by a stunned silence, where Egemen shrugged, brushing the flattened pellet from his bare chest.

"Is there anything else?" Egemen lightly threatened as Yuuko took a step back.

"No way... you're bulletproof?" A second shot rung, followed by a third in increasing frequency. "This-!"

"You're dead!" One loop slapped the weapon from her hands, and one barb flew for her eye, only to miss as Egemen screamed.

The whip tightened, lashing away from her as the Captain recovered her senses. Egemen screamed, and the policewoman blinked as she saw the Duel Monster actually cringe; someone had set fire onto its arm. The Humanoid Slime keened, a curious high-pitched sound like water bubbling before it shattered from a stray flame.

"Now I see the point of taking two decks along," Yuuko started as Orion's voice drifted towards them. "Taking on a Duel Spirit on your own... sounds rather suicidal, Captain Kaname."

"I had it under control," Yuuko snapped as Orion slowly walked out of the shadows. "A- anyway, that monster-"

"Is destroyed," Orion confirmed. "Hell Gate Deeg is a Beast-Type, which could explain the presence of a Monster Tamer and the Beautiful Beast Trainer in the main foyer. You needed to corral it into the building."

"Andromache will kill everyone there," Egemen spoke without a hint of boasting.

"Oh, I have confidence that Nikki will be fine," Orion's DuelDisk unfolded. "Can't really say the same for you. So, who sent you?"

"Perhaps no one did," Egemen growled.

"Maybe yer blowing it out of yer arse," Orion's voice deepened to a burr on the syllables. "The way I see it, we could settle it the old way, or I burn you to a greasy stain on the pavement."

"You are a Duelist," the Tamer scoffed. "I am the Monster Tamer, Egemen. In exchange for our leaving the cursed gate monster in that fortress, the Queen's General has granted Andromache and I our Names. State your name and rank, dog of Exodia."

"My name is Orion Hunter," Orion defended. "Not that I needed to commit morally despicable acts to gain it, Monster Tamer. Will you Duel?"

Slabs of rocks surrounded the Tamer as his whip struck the ground. "I shall be fine."

"What are you doing?" Yuuko demanded. "You're having a Duel right now-"

"Captain," Orion rebutted. "These monsters are bound by their own rules. Humans cannot beat monsters by our own strength, and even those who can are too few to make a difference. The game of Duel Monsters exist to give _us_ an edge. By challenging them to a Duel, we can even win against the impossible. Otherwise, it would take me forever to burn him into a crisp."

"But you're a Psychic Duelist!" Yuuko protested. "You can do it, right? Do you really need to place your life at risk with this Duel?"

"I've always been risking my life," Orion answered. "This time isn't any different."

"Foolish pretender of power," Egemen cackled. "I will destroy you."

"Duel!"

Egemen: LP 8000

Orion: LP 8000

"I'll start, then," Egemen taunted. "A set monster, and a reversed card. Turn end."

"My turn, draw!" Orion declared. "I'll summon Royal Magical Library [0/2000] to the field."

"What's the point of summoning a zero-point monster in attack mode?" Yuuko screeched as the purple-robed librarian appeared.

"The point is that the other guy isn't going to be making the next turn," Orion flippantly answered. "I play the Spell, Upstart Goblin. In exchange for my opponent gaining one thousand life points, I can draw a card."

Egemen: LP 8000 → LP 9000

Orion: LP 8000

"Now, I activate the Spell, Magical Mallet, shuffling three cards in my hand into my deck, and then drawing three cards."

Egemen grumbled as Orion drew three cards.

"Now, I activate the Field Spell, Magical Citadel of Endymion," Orion called.

Concentric circles surrounded the field, enclosing the two Duelists and their spectator. Overhead, jewels glittered with some light undefined by source, and in answer the Magical Library's representative seemed to glow in answer of the call of the Citadel.

"Now, I don't know if you've been counting, but Royal Magical Library gains a Spell Counter for each Spell played, up to a maximum of three Counters. I remove the three Counters it already has to draw one card. Next, I play the Spell combo of Broken Bamboo Sword and Golden Bamboo Sword, thus netting me two cards. Magical Citadel of Endymion has the same effect as Royal Magical Library, so it gains two Spell Counters. With that, I equip Wonder Wand to Royal Magical Library; the third and last Spell Counter played. Royal Magical Library allows me to draw a card, and then I use the effect of Endymion's citadel to substitute its Spell Counters, allowing me to draw another card. I tribute Wonder Wand and the Royal Magical Library to draw two more cards. Then I activate the Spell, Card of Burial Magic, allowing me to banish three Spells from my graveyard to draw two cards."

"A bad hand, I presume?" Egemen cackled as Orion stopped at the two cards he had drawn.

"For you, yes," Blue eyes still wide, Orion revealed the hand, showing Exodia's grinning skeletal features.

"Exodia..." Egemen stepped back. "W- What...?"

"Exodia? On the first turn?" Yuuko mumbled. "How did he get the pieces on time...?"

"Will you tell us your employer's name?" Orion mumbled, still staring at the cards in his hands.

"I have told you all I have known," Egemen answered in defiance as circles surrounded the field, glowing an angry red-violet that clashed with the power of the Magical Citadel. "You have won this round, and yet with all your power, you will fall one day. Power of the likes of Exodia is not meant to remain with one for long!"

The red mist descended, and the spirit disappeared.

The screams lingered behind him.

"What... was that?" Yuuko spoke in a hushed voice.

"Exodia's retribution," Orion mumbled, putting away his deck. "Old monster, you... in every other turn it's an uphill battle, and now you're being nice to me. What the hell do you want?"

* * *

_**Please review!**_


	5. IV: Battlefield Tragedy

_**Grisaille Gaol**_

* * *

**IV: Battlefield Tragedy**

_Headquarters of the Arcadia Movement, New Orleans chapter,  
Floor 1-44, Babel Tower, Canal Street, New Orleans,  
Louisiana, United States of America  
28 October 20XX (-8:00 GMT)_

"Ellesmere Island?" A fist landed on the panel covering the communications console. The fist belonged to an attractive woman of average height with short and messy brown hair. She wore a long-sleeved shirt and trousers with Converse shoes. "Angel?"

"_I barely escaped, Castle,_" Angel, or Alexianna, relayed. "_By the time I got the radio to work, I had to fly express speed to Iqaluit before I could contact you guys._"

"Then what about Virgo?" Kaname Ishihara, the speaker, demanded within the humming cacophony of the Orleans War Room. "What about Virgo?"

"_Virgo... Merci is dead,_" Alexianna gently replied.

"Merci- dead?" Kaname demanded. "How?"

"_She defended me from Shimotsuki's attack, I had to leave her behind to fulfil her order,_" Alexianna swallowed. "_She named you, Kaname Ishihara, as her successor._"

"Don't joke with me!" Kaname cried back, uncaring of the attention she was drawing to herself. Her cerulean blue eyes betrayed her otherwise calm façade. "The Canadians... how are they holding out?"

"_The outpost isn't outfitted for stopping an invasion, but neither is the Pentagon,_" Alexianna replied. "_Judging from what I saw, the outpost staff would be too diffused if we spread out. That woman is breaking in from three different provinces, and she's taking the Ellesmere spearhead._"

"I got it," Kaname sighed. "I'll contact all of Canada's outposts. For now, I need you to hold Iqaluit with the outpost staff you have at present. What's the top rank?"

"_Erm, Class IV_," Alexianna replied. "_And that's only three staff._"

"Can't be helped. Use weapons if you need to," Kaname ordered. "Anything else, Angel?"

"_Well... I saw Setsuka Shimotsuki lose control when we mentioned Jimmy Cook. Erm... she knows that he's in The Hague. She also freaked out over that news._"

Kaname groaned. "I'll relay the news to Central, but if it's what I think it is, then Canada might be saved yet. Russia..."

"_What's the situation, Castle?_" Alexianna asked.

"We're fine. Still on hyper-alert, battle-stations, have been since some idiot unleashed a school of Big Jaws into Lake Pontchartrain," Kaname answered. "Takeshi's fine. He misses you."

"_He didn't actually say that, did he?_" Alexianna wryly answered.

"Nope, he conveyed it in that tortured male gaze of his, I'd know," Kaname replied tenderly. "Be safe, Angel. Castle, over."

"_Will do... Angel to Castle, over and out._"

Kaname yawned as she hung up on the relay, rubbing at the kinks in her shoulders. The weight on them seemed tripled as she grabbed the in-house intercom. "This is Castle of Communications speaking. Staff meeting, War Room. High staff only. Takeshi, I need to talk to you."

Barely a minute after she had hung up that the doors flew open.

"What happened?" a man of average height with light skin demanded. His long black hair wrapped in a ponytail swung fiercely, and brown eyes stared at her. Compared to her, his jeans and T-shirt under a blue vest looked sloppy. "Is Lexi fine?"

"She's alive, at least," Kaname snapped. "I'm sorry, Takeshi," the older Ishihara immediately sighed afterwards. "Just... I need you to take Communications for the time being."

"Sure, Nee-san," Takeshi's brow furrowed as more people trooped in behind him. "Who to contact?"

"New York, all of Canada's outposts, and Mexico, just in case," Kaname ordered. "Make it a live chat conference."

"Will do," Takeshi took over the console. "Nee-san... it's really starting, isn't it?"

"I... I believed that she would do the right thing," Kaname whispered as screens flashed around the War Rooms. "I guess this is retribution."

"What the hell's going on?" a man with spiky hair of dark brown with silver strikes demanded.

"A conference...?" A woman muttered.

"Kanzaki, Narukami, sit down," Kaname muttered before she turned towards the screens. "Shinobi, shut that pie-hole. You too, Yucatan. Hi, Spirit."

"_Castle,_" Kaido greeted, looking slightly harried. "_We're a bit busy at the moment. Hurry up._"

"Virgo is dead."

"_WHAT_?" was the exclamation that greeted the entire room.

"Precisely," Kaname sighed. "Merci Sophia died approximately two hours ago, according to my predictions. Angel and her, as all know, were scouting in Ellesmere Island against a possible Winter incursion. It happened; they faced Setsuka Shimotsuki, on Cape Columbia, and Merci sacrificed herself to give Angel a running chance to escape with information. Before she died, she told Angel her successor's name, and Angel herself told me. It's me. From today onwards, I, Castle of the Arcadia Movement, hereby take on the mantle as the fourth head of the New Orleans Movement."

"M- Merci?" the brown-haired woman echoed. "D- Dead?"

Kaname looked at her, and her stare softened to sympathy. "Yes. We couldn't retrieve her body. I'm sorry, Mu."

"Merci..." Mu Narukami shook her head. "It can't be..."

"Then, this information?" Ichiro Kanzaki, the man, demanded.

"Shimotsuki now knows that Cook is in The Hague," Kaname confirmed. "We think that either she'll attack the ICJ, or... or she'll conquer Canada and use it as leverage to get to Cook."

"So we need Cook," Ichiro nodded. "How?"

"_I'll tell the folks at the Bastille to arrange something,_" the Mexican representative nodded. "_If this is true, all of Latin America might be vulnerable to the Cold Queen should the States fall._"

"Do not call her that," Kaname corrected.

"_With all respects, the Cold Queen was our terror,_" the one code-named Yucatan, one Ricardo Rojas, pointed out. "_This is the woman who ruled the Arcadia Movement with an iron fist for nine years._"

"Well, at the time we weren't her enemies," Kaname snapped back. "Kaido, tell Polaris, tell him to haul ass here. Yucatan, keep an eye on the Atlantic waters. Shinobi-"

"I'll send what people I can across," Shinobi confirmed. "But... I don't know if they can stand up to her."

"They must hold the capitals, at least," Kaname snipped off. "Steer the Winter forces towards the Rockies. Clockwork, coordinate, prepare a fly-by for me to marshal our outposts across the US if needed. Priestess, you help him!"

"Yes!" Ichiro and Mu quickly ran out.

"Takeshi, keep an eye on communications," Kaname snapped.

"Got it," Takeshi looked pale. "But... you're the leader now?"

"Can't be helped," Kaname looked sad as she sank back into her chair. "After all, those with power must help those without. That is our tenet... our ideal."

"Emergency broadcast!" Takeshi yelled to the room at large. "Going on air in five, four, three, two, one-"

* * *

_Main Foyer, Ground Floor, Central Arcadia Movement Headquarters, La Castle,  
Neo Domino City, Republic of Japan  
29 October 20XX (0001 hours)_

Shards of glass glittered on the ground of the main foyer. Within the building, Nikki stood alone, faced against the confident Duel Spirit of the Beautiful Beast Trainer, Andromache.

"Duel!"

Andromache: LP 8000

Nikki: LP 8000

"I shall begin, draw!" Andromache snapped off a card, holding it up carefully amidst her sharp nails. "I play the Spell, One for One. I discard Ancient Crimson Ape to special summon from my deck Uniflora, Mystical Beast of the Forest [700/500]."

A whinny resounded as the unicorn trotted onto the field, its mane of grasses and flowers waving in an unseen breeze.

"A unicorn?" Nikki mumbled.

_Don't be silly, _Cologne's voice chided. _Uniflora must hold a special ability amongst Beasts._

"Since I have only Beast-Type monsters in my graveyard, I can tribute Uniflora to special summon Ancient Crimson Ape [2600/1800]," Andromache gloated as the giant red ape appeared, swinging its club with gleeful abandon. "Uniflora would restrict my monster from attacking, but this is the first turn, hence I cannot conduct my battle phase anyway. I set a monster, turn end."

"A level seven right off the bat..." Nikki mumbled. "Right... here we go! I draw!"

_Be careful. _

"This card..." Nikki glanced at the text. "Is it yours, Cologne?"

_This is the treasure of my kingdom, _Cologne mumbled. _It is a powerful tool for our dolls. Pair it with that monster._

"Eh?" Nikki blinked. "I'll play a set monster and end my turn with a set card."

"Draw," Andromache declared. "I enter battle phase. Ancient Crimson Ape, attack that set monster!"

Nikki cringed as the present box that appeared on her field was summarily destroyed. "That was Box of Friends [0/0]. When its destroyed and sent to the grave, I can special summon from my deck two different normal monsters with either an attack or defence power of zero in defence mode. Come, Gem-Knight Garnet [1900/0]! Gem-Knight Sapphire [0/2100]!"

"Both monsters..." Andromache scoffed as the glittering Gem-Knights appeared. "Turn end."

_Opportune. You see the arrangement? These Spells will be very important._

"My turn, draw!" Nikki called. "I play the Spell, Gem-Knight Fusion! King of the jewels, the red sapphire. Shine, the red light of destruction! Come, Gem-Knight Ruby!"

With a yell and a mighty swing of its scythe, the cloaked monster appeared on the field [2500/1300].

"I'm not done," Nikki scoffed. "I play the Spell, Instant Fusion. By paying one thousand life points, I can fusion summon a level five or lower Fusion monster from my Extra deck right off the bat. Come, Gem-Knight Seraphinite!"

Nikki: LP 8000 → LP 7000

Andromache: LP 8000

White wings fluttered as the monster appeared, a vision of white and wings like an angel [2300/1400]. Its sword shone brilliantly, a beacon in the midst of a crystal field.

"In exchange, Seraphinite cannot attack and is destroyed during the end phase," Andromache mumbled. "So why..."

"Because I'm not done!" Nikki countered. "I summon Gem-Armadillo [1700/900]!"

The monster bounced on the field as Nikki shuffled through her deck. "By its effect, I grab Gem-Knight Tourmaline from my deck to add to my hand. Now, I activate the Spell, Particle Fusion! Fuse Tourmaline with Seraphinite! The yellow burn, flash on the battlefield. Come, Gem-Knight Topaz!"

The next warrior groaned as he appeared onto the field [1800/1800].

"Particle Fusion allows me to choose one of its material monsters to grant an attack boost to Topaz, but I must banish Particle Fusion from the grave," Nikki declared as she pocketed the Spell and Seraphinite appeared on the field in a shower of sparks. "I choose Seraphinite [1800/1800 → 4100/1800]. Furthermore, I activate the effect of Gem-Knight Ruby. By tributing Gem-Armadillo, I can make him gain the attack power of Gem-Armadillo. Ruby Coalescence [2500/1300 → 4200/1300]!"

"Two monsters with four-thousand attack power?" Andromache mouthed.

"Battle!" Nikki called. "Topaz, attack that Ancient Crimson Ape! Spark!"

With a bellow, the ape fell under the knight's fist.

"The effect of Topaz; when he destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the grave, you take the attack power of your monster as damage! Topaz Flash!" Nikki shouted as lightning sparked, shocking Andromache.

Andromache: LP 8000 → LP 6500 → LP 3900

Nikki: LP 7000

"Topaz can also attack twice!" Nikki added as the face-down Nimble Momonga was destroyed.

Andromache: LP 3900 → LP 4900 → LP 3900

Nikki: LP 7000

"Did I mention that Nimble Momonga can special summon more copies of itself in defence mode?" Andromache asked, smiling.

"Oh... did I forget to mention that Ruby has a piercing ability?" Nikki gave a theatrical sigh at Andromache's stunned expression. "This guy can do piercing damage. Ruby, attack one Nimble Momonga!"

The Gem-Knight charged, its beheading the other squirrel who died a very horrific death. The Duel Spirit gave a shout of pain as the blow was struck. "W- Why? What's going on? You... you...!"

With no expression in its helmeted face, Nikki merely watched as the Gem-Knight Ruby raised its scythe, and brought it down. "Wait."

The scythe stopped mid-blow.

"You," Nikki breathed. "Do you know where is the Winter Queen?"

"T- The Queen?" Andromache echoed. "Why? Why do you seek the Queen of Air and Darkness?"

"I seek... to kill," Nikki answered. "I am going to kill her."

"You... kill the Winter Queen..."

It took a while for the girl to decipher the spirit's tone, but Nikki's tone turned harsh. "Why? Why are you laughing?! I'm serious!"

"It's _ridiculous_!" Andromache laughed despite straddling the verge of death. "The Winter Queen is the highest of the Winter Court! The Herald of the Gentle Darkness, the Pharaoh, the Game King, even the agents of light and darkness themselves, have failed! She is smarter, faster and more ruthless than anything you can fathom; darkness and cold is her."

With a huff and a scream, Nikki raised her arm.

"You wish to kill all of the world's darkness and cold?" Andromache threw her taunt with the fear and despair of one about to die as the knight loomed. "Winter will never end, will never stop, until all life has ended. There is nothing to be done... _Winter is coming._"

The scythe fell.

Andromache: LP 3900 → LP 0

Nikki: LP 7000

"Why..." Nikki curled up, tears dripping down her cheeks against the scattered shards of reinforced glass. "Is it hopeless...? Ayame-neesan... Kannazuki-sempai... Michiru-neesan..."

A set of footsteps approaching stopped. "Oh."

Nikki glanced up, sullenly, into a pair of eyes that glowed gold.

"Nikki," Yuuki Judai, the infamous Duelist of the second generation, knelt beside her. "Are you... hurt?"

"Uncle Judai," Nikki barely raised her head.

"What... happened...?" Judai trailed off as he saw the slowly dissolving corpse of Andromache. "Nikki..."

"I killed her," Nikki mumbled. "I'm too tired to care, Uncle. Please don't tell Aunt Asuka."

"There's no way I could tell her after Ayame-" Judai stopped, his face twisted into halfway between a frown and trying not to cry. "It's tough. So... you're a Psychic Duelist?"

"Is there a problem?"

"Nope... though maybe Fubuki..." Judai shrugged. "Please don't end up like Michiru."

Nikki didn't remember Uncle Fubuki's only daughter, who had been in Queens, and had disappeared three years ago with the first disappearance of Setsuka Shimotsuki. Even then, from Ayame's frowns and several adults' silence on the subject, Michiru Tenjouin had always been the family's black sheep through no fault of her own. "I'm not going to side with Winter. I want to kill her."

"That's... not good," Uncle Judai frowned.

"Then what should I do?!" Nikki yelled. "Everyone keeps telling me, it's pointless, it's useless, she cannot die! Why?! She's killed so many people, she's done so many horrible things, she's destroying our world! She killed your _daughter_, and you're here trying to tell me otherwise?!"

"Revenge isn't the answer," Judai whispered, not meeting her eyes. "I've... been trying. The world of spirits is not kind to its newcomers, to humans, or to each other either. But the Winter Queen... If you kill her, another Winter Queen will come. That certainty surrounds the fate of the monarchs of Summer and Winter, like us; we will come back, even if we end. Killing the Queen... isn't so simple."

"I must try!" Nikki whispered. "Ayame-neesan... told me not to get involved in the spirits. But... I can't. I can't keep my promise like this. If I have power... surely I have to do something!"

"Gem-Knights? The combination of my heroes and Johan's cards..." Judai patted her head, touching the DuelDisk. "Princess Cologne?"

_If you are here to destroy me, let me remind you that she chose._

"I know," Judai frowned. "The kingdom of dolls... you'd do anything for your friends too. I know that feeling. But please, give me my niece back, okay? I've already lost Ayame and Michiru."

_...with the card you have just given us, her chance of survival has just lifted from minuscule to accountable. Though, we must hold out for the worst possibility, nevertheless._

"Card?" Nikki blinked, but then Judai had disappeared. "What card? Cologne? Cologne?!"

_This card. _One of the cards gleamed, and Nikki pulled it from the deck, scanning it furiously. "No way... this card is powerful...!"

_Thousands, millions of my brethren died to make it, _Cologne's voice was laden with sadness. _This card can be used to defeat the Winter Queen. Whether or not it can be used depends on you._

"Yes, Cologne," Nikki gave a broken laugh as she slumped to the ground, tired and pale. "We'll use it to defeat her, the one who killed Ayame-neesan... the Winter Queen, Shimotsuki Setsuka!"

* * *

_Moving from Royal Flush Street, Daimon Area,  
Neo Domino City, Republic of Japan  
29 October 20XX (0106 hours +9:00 GMT)_

"That... that was..." Yuuko stuttered.

"A Duel Spirit," Orion stooped, considering the body which was already decomposing into ash. "We don't know its employers, and we don't know who masterminded that Hell Gate... we'll go back to the building for now. You can go back to the station come morning."

"I can- I'm an officer of the law!" Yuuko snapped back. "I- I'm not just a woman!"

Orion paused, giving Yuuko a stare that was so similar to his cousin's that Yuuko actually stepped back. "I wasn't thinking about your gender in that assessment. I was thinking that if the enemy could send two agents into the heart of Arcadian territory, and assuming that if I think what they think, they would have people watching us. Hence, by the time you reach home, they could conceivably know your name, occupation and home address. Ergo, you might have an unpleasantly bulletproof guest that you can't fight off alone."

Yuuko flinched. "Even so... I'm a Captain, especially of the First Investigative Brigade!"

Orion just blinked before he started walking. "Irrelevant. You are as human as the rest of us. If that's all, come."

"Why do you get off of giving orders?" Yuuko snapped, but followed behind him. "I'm a policeman!"

"Again, irrelevant." Orion's footsteps slowed. "If I offended you, I apologise, but it is midnight. If a disturbance is reported, your neighbours might be pulled into any resulting struggle."

"And you're a civilian," Yuuko grumbled, but made no more noise about it. "The NDPD thanks concerned citizens-"

"Spare me that crap and remember that the Arcadia Rights Bill holds me accountable," Orion cut in.

"...fine," Yuuko reluctantly admitted. "Only because I sort of like my neighbours."

"Thank you, Captain."

Yuuko stopped talking as she followed him into the foyer, where a quiet Nikki was sitting.

"Up you get," Orion murmured, hauling the girl up.

Nikki followed woodenly, tear tracks drying on her cheeks. Yuuko took the other side, and between the two of them they managed to haul a near-catatonic Psychic towards the dormitory blocks.

"This is... the main wing?" Yuuko asked.

"The dormitory wing," Orion nodded as they entered the complex and turned a right down a hallway, leaving Nikki on an empty bed. "She'll be fine."

"Emergency only- oh, it's you, Orion," the infirmary doctor paused. "New girl?"

"Nicolette Kurosagi, Class III, might need a retest," Orion muttered. "File's with Kaido."

"Yes, yes," Dr Erik sighed by the side. "And the lovely lady?"

"Captain Kaname Yuuko, NDPD First Investigative Brigade," Orion made the introductions. "Captain, this is Dr Hadrian Erik, our in-charge and the second most senior Psychic."

"A pleasure," Yuuko cautiously answered.

They left Nikki there, heading towards an elevator. Yuuko didn't talk at all until they reached the highest twenty-second floor of the building, and only then it was to comment: "...well, it looks like your housing's all accounted for."

Orion glanced at the plain monochrome décor, grimaced at the three-piece suite of the layout, and then pointed towards the long arm of the L-shape the suite room had been arranged in. "You can take the master room. I'll just take the couch as always."

"As always?" Yuuko echoed. "Isn't that your room?"

Orion hesitated, and then Yuuko saw the mask of strength fall to show a very tired man. "Captain... it's nothing."

"Can't you tell me?" Yuuko's face twisted. "Is there something in that room?"

Orion grimaced. "Forgive me if I don't want to particularly sleep in there."

Yuuko reached for the doorknob, barely hesitating as she threw the door open and smelt... tea.

For a room that had remained vacant, it was surprisingly free of dust and dirt. It was laid out with an open floor plan, with a walk-in closet attached on the left. The décor was, again, black and white; this time, colour was present in a dark blue bedspread over a luxurious four-poster of black wood. The curtains on either side of it were snow-white; it gave the entire room an impression of shadows and light playing against each other. There was no way a normal human could sleep in such a room without a night-light, or at least a companion to convince themselves that shadows were shadows and were going to _remain_ shadows.

"I'm sorry, I should go make up the guest room," Orion breathed. "Or... if you're uncomfortable, I could find another bed-"

"This room is very luxurious," Yuuko threw a look at him, the one that questioned his sanity without actually stating the words. "And yet you prefer sleeping on the couch than compared to this room. You could redecorate."

Orion stopped, just blinking. "You don't redecorate a mausoleum, Captain."

"Kaname is fine, or even Yuuko," Yuuko shuddered at the cold of the room. "This room... was it hers? Seika's room?"

"... and Setsuka's." Orion added. "Right after... that night. After my last year of Duel Academia, before the graduation ceremony, before she... she moved here. She slept here for nine years, and after her Seika slept here for two years. It's been left like this... because not only do I not have the time _or_ inclination to redecorate, I have no particular interest in taking the room."

An awkward silence passed.

"I'll make up the guest room," Orion muttered. "Sorry."

"I- It's fine," Yuuko shuddered.

"This room is too cold anyway, you can't sleep here-"

"I- I'll be fine," Yuuko pressed. "P- Please."

Orion stopped. "... there's a washroom attached. If I know Setsuka, she'll have at least one of those handy disposable toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes somewhere inside. If you need a change of clothes that's not in the closet, I can probably find something or scrounge something up from the communal pool. This wing is _still_ a dormitory, after all."

"I- it's fine," Yuuko flinched at the trembling politeness. "I'll just wear my clothes back. This place... it's safe from them... right?"

"For now, yes," Orion answered. "Please... make yourself at home. It's our fault you're here, after all."

"I'm a police officer," Yuuko argued. "I'm staying here because you offered and because you convinced me that I was in danger and I might be putting my neighbours in danger if I went home tonight. It's just... for one night. I'll be fine."

Orion opened his mouth, abruptly closed it, and then nodded. "... there should be spare towels too. If you need, I'll make a light snack-"

"Enough, this isn't a hotel!"

It might as well be, Yuuko reflected as she dug fresh, fluffy white towels out of the toilet cupboard. Unlike what looked like a common washroom by the living room that actually saw regular use, the attached bathroom was about as clean as to be expected. It was simplistic but elegant, in that sense that seemed to accompany the previous owner's monochrome attitude to décor. To Yuuko, it felt as sterile as a hospital bathroom; devoid of life or any signs thereof. Yuuko threw her clothings onto the floor; it seemed to give a normalising effect to what should have been the preserved rooms of two girls. "It's just my imagination..." Yuuko shuddered. "Just adrenaline... and my imagination... I've got to cut down on tea..."

Yuuko heaved a deep sigh of relief as steam escaped from the shower stall; part of her had been expecting the water to have frozen over."At least there's hot water..." It was a simple matter of finding the washing effects and completing her shower.

Yet, the feeling of insecurity only surfaced when Yuuko walked out of the washroom to see her clothings and underwear already neatly folded, placed at the foot of the bed, and even without her hearing.

"O- Oh... oh no," Yuuko hissed, already realising the implications of folded clothings. "My underwear...!"

Hurriedly dressed, the police captain stormed out, damp silvery hair looped around her towel as she charged into the living room. "When d- did y- you..."

"Good evening, Captain Kaname," An old man in a black suit blandly greeted her there.

"N- Nakamura-san," Yuuko blushed.

"I see that you have received the clothings Orion-sama asked me to retrieve from the Missy's old room," the old man continued as if a near-stranger stormed into the kitchenette everyday. "Of course, if it comforts you, I will tell you that I asked a female Psychic to have them cleaned."

"T- there's no problem," Yuuko protested.

"I see. My apologies for the shock we might have caused." Despite the bland apology, Yuuko still got the message to leave the business alone. "Orion-sama has informed me of your... potential troubles. To that end, I hope that you would stay the night. At least this old man would feel a modicum of comfort with a police officer keeping watch over the young master. Isn't that right, Orion-sama?"

"Nakamura-san, I took care of myself for ten years," Orion pointed out as he walked out of the kitchenette. "I would have done it myself, but it occurred to me that it _might_ not be a good idea to cause any further discomfort. Or misunderstandings."

"I- It's fine," Yuuko squeaked.

"Then, I shall take my leave," Nakamura made a short bow to the two of them. "Good night."

"I made some ramen," Orion added. "Are you sure you won't stay?"

"I am quite satisfied, but thank you nevertheless," Nakamura Iemitsu left with these parting words.

Ten minutes later, the scent of cooked _ramen_ tickled her nose as Yuuko perched on a padded chair, watching Orion lie out flat on his back. If his shirt-tails rode up to flash a hint of abdominal muscle, it was a temporary bonus.

"Ramen?" she awkwardly paused, looking at her steaming bowl.

"Stocked up. You'll be surprised that we get vegetables despite the naval embargo," Orion mumbled, watching the wall-mounted TV screen. "And tofu. I'm a bit surprised that Setsuka never touched the Momentum lines or our supply chains, she knows that she could get to them if she tried – means she wants us to keep electricity and water supplies, but not physically move us from Japan." A moue of distaste formed on his lips. "She wants me aware of what's going on, but unable to do anything about it."

"Why you?" Yuuko asked.

"I'm the only family she has," Orion muttered and said nothing else before the screen changed.

"_Barely twenty-four hours after official communications cut off from the Russian Federation, the same symptoms has appeared in Canada,_" the newscaster read."_Barely one hour before, the Canadian Queen Elizabeth Islands has cut off all contact, and the CFS Alert station on Ellesmere Island has sent out an emergency flare sighted off the coast of Greenland right before all signals cut off. Now a broadcast signal has been signalled to the world at large, to be live in five, four, three, two, one-_"

The newscaster changed, now showing the backdrop of the Arctic Cordillera. A snow-capped mountain glimmered in the background, against a night sky that remained untouched by pollution but scattered with clouds. The foreground was covered with snow and debris; not unusual. It was pretty, if not for the half-terrifying shadows that played about the scenery.

The subject of the broadcast took up the viewer's attention. She wore an actual ermine muff and white gloves too thin to be velvet or heavy protection gear, matched with a long white coat of fur that reached to her knees. Woollen leggings of the same white covered her legs, her calves themselves bearing fur-lined white boots. Her dark hair was left long and loose, with chains of silver woven between her locks in a series of elaborate plaits that gave her a vaguely aborigine look. She lifted a hand, and then patterns of fine lines formed on the screen.

It took a squint for Orion to sit up straight. "T- That's _frost_. How did she master that kind of fine control? That shouldn't be possible."

The frost lines ghosted over the screen, clearly otherworldly in their speed as they formed words in English; _Queen of Winter. _The frost melted, the drops covering the lens before drying off, leaving the Queen clearly in sight of the lens.

"_Greetings_," she spoke. Despite that she was clearly standing outside, her voice was clearly heard, and clear enough to sound nearly musical on its own. "_I am sure, that the denizens of your world well know my name, that of Winter. Nearly one year ago, the existence of our kind was revealed to you mortal-kind. Three days later, you sought to banish my kind, kill my people, and otherwise banish us from your realm of possibility, knowledge, and reality. I have infiltrated your United Nations then, I have held your delegates at gunpoint, and I have shown them, and all who ally with them, the capital mistake that they have made in confronting us. We exist, we are monsters, and _I_ am their Queen._"

"Is that supposed to make a difference?" Yuuko asked.

"Yes," Orion bluntly replied. "She's making a point to _us_ specifically."

"_I stand before you nearly a year later, having conquered the largest nation-state of your world, and now on the shores of the next largest inhabited nation-state._" She continued. "_I stand before you as the crowned Queen of Winter, and as conqueror of the Russian Federation. I stand as champion of all who bear the blood of spirits, lost souls who answer the call of their Queen of Winter. Peoples of your world of mortals, the Arcadia Movement that I once ruled... do you think your world is safe? It is assuredly not; it is a comforting lie told to protect you. Savour these moments of peace, for I have come to visit revenge upon all of you._"

A flash of a vixen's smile in an ermine muff. "_I expect negotiations to open in one hour._"

* * *

_**Please review!**_


	6. V: Prayer to the Evil Spirits

_**Grisaille Gaol**_

* * *

**V: Prayer to the Evil Spirits**

_Canadian outpost of the Arcadia Movement, Iqaluit,  
Nunavut, Canada,  
28 October 20XX (-8:00 GMT)_

The parka was pulled straight around Alexianna as the Frenchwoman stood, facing Ellesmere Island from Iqaluit. The provincial capital was covered in snow all over, and the white was unsettling to her. The Arctic cold bit at exposed skin, and faintly Alexianna mourned the necessity of using moisturiser as the cold teased at her clothes.

"She's fighting us, isn't she?" One of the masked Duelists manning the Iqaluit outpost mumbled. "The Cold Queen."

"Don't call her that," Alexianna hissed, without any heat to her pronouncement. "She's not worth it."

"She gave us the resources by which we are using," the man mumbled. "She is the one that placed us in a position to make our moves, such that we would have a chance."

"She's killing people," Alexianna harshly mumbled.

"But you must admire that she is a capable woman," the man answered. "And that she made the Arcadia Movement what it is today. She did what Divine never could; she made the world take the side of the Arcadia Movement. Even you must acknowledge her capability, Angel."

Alexianna breathed out through her nose, willing the warmed air to at least allow her feeling in her face. "Do you remember when you first joined the Movement?"

A pause, then a shake. "It has been a long time."

"I remember every moment of it," Alexianna darkly promised. "When my powers awakened... I was eleven. My brother, he... he taught me how to Duel. My parents died in a car crash, leaving us alone in Paris. Our only relative, Jean refused to contact her. Jean raised me, he tried his best to provide despite everything, his addictions, being unable to control his sex drive- the French pox is appropriate for _le __Français__._ Jean wouldn't let me call our relative, he even drove himself to participate in underground Duels for the money. I visited them... with the walls crashing around us, I pulled my brother out of that hell-hole."

"You... you brought down a building?" the man seemed stunned.

Alexianna gave a bitter laugh. "I went to the relative Jean wouldn't let me contact... Madame LeBlanc received us at the same time the announcement came. She knew then... that _I_ did it. Then I knew why Jean wouldn't let me call her, because then my aunt... Aunt sent him to the Fleury-Mérogis, and then _she_ came. Setsuka Shimotsuki came to the LeBlanc manor and basically blackmailed me to stay with the Bastille."

Her voice turned a different pitch, a mimic of a cold voice of Winter's chill. "'Oh, you brought down a building? Well, that's peanuts, but then the gendarmes wouldn't understand that, would they? They might think Jean LeRouge did it, blew up the place and basically sentenced approximately thirty-three men to their deaths and more to severe injuries. Why, that means life imprisonment, perhaps more... if only a Psychic could admit to it, the Arcadia Movement could sweep it all up. Accidents happen, you know.'"

A clink resounded as nails met a dark onyx necklace around her neck. "My powers were easily concealed, and I could have gone hidden all my life... she forced the limiter on me, like a collar that made me _different_. I marked myself as a Psychic Duelist, I entered the Bastille, Duel Academia, under their banner, I accepted their help... they did help. Because you know? She _does_ help, even though you hate her your whole life afterwards. I learned fine control, I learnt to fly, I learnt how to hurt, where to hurt, and _how_. I learnt how to hurt people deliberately, so I couldn't do it by accident. I felt stupid, a fool, a sheep being led to the slaughterhouse of Jean's and my own idiocy in trying to stay hidden. And when I wanted to leave... 'are you sure'? They told me that, with the sure knowledge that I would return. I came to Japan... and the Central Arcadia Movement. I couldn't escape after all."

"...I see," the man mumbled.

Alexianna sniffed, staring out at the skies. "It's coming."

She was in the skies long before the first aerial assault came, winged creatures of black and greens and blues and all colours known as what seemed to be a swarm of nearly all of Duel Monsters' flying creatures flew.

Alexianna hissed as she narrowly dodged a Stealth Bird's projectiles and sent a scattered burst of black fire. Winged Beasts screeched, immediately scattering before her spread wings. Alexianna herself only had a second before she realised that they had scattered to make way for the dragon hurtling towards her.

The dragon-fire engulfed her form, but then the flame dissipated as the Psychic Duelist rolled to stare at the blood-red dragon and its rider as they landed, skidding on the tundra.

"You!" Alexianna's shout echoed across the snow-covered ground as the dragon's rider dismounted.

A fur-lined hood fell back, revealing blonde curls in a cascade down her purple-clad back. Small lips set in a heart-shaped face turned up their corners as honey-brown eyes scanned Alexianna, before the girl nodded, twirling a hand gloved in purple kid-skin. Of course, her trousers were dark purple and her boots lined with fur, but otherwise it looked like fashion had made few concessions to the cold.

"Codename Aquila," she said. "Or, formerly codename Aquila."

"Satsuki Kujaku," Alexianna scowled. "You betrayed the Arcadia Movement for Shimotsuki?!"

"That would imply that I was loyal to the Movement in the first place," Satsuki countered, her voice audible despite the Arctic winds. "I joined Winter to repay my debts. It's just business."

"You're killing people in the name of that woman, obviously it's not just business!" Alexianna screamed.

"That implies that I'm the one killing people," Satsuki countered. "I have yet to kill a single human being since I arrived to Nunavut. Remember well, I am not the only one of Winter to be here."

"Then explain the three hundred casualties of the-" Alexianna paused. "That direction... you just flew over Greenland, you couldn't have... then..." she swallowed. "_Her_?"

Satsuki gave her a pitying look. "I think we both know what bloodthirsty lengths Michiru Tenjouin is capable of."

Alexianna wordlessly took to the skies, the Darklord Superbia holding her tight as she pulled a short-wave radio. "Attention, ground control. This is Angel, heading en route for the source of the aerial assault on Nunavut. I am being... pursued... by an enemy! Someone get her off my tail!"

"I can't let you get to her," Satsuki tonelessly relayed, mounting the back of the Harpie's Pet Phantasmal Dragon.

"People are going to _die_!" Alexianna screamed. "You're aiding and abetting that psychotic _chienne _to kill them and you don't feel anything?!"

Satsuki paused, her grip on her monster's reins tightening. "I was ordered to capture Iqaluit and any and all Arcadia personnel within. That includes you. I won't defy these orders... rather, I can't."

"In any case, I don't have time," Alexianna scowled. "So then I'll just have to fight out!"

"What-?" the Phantasmal Dragon dived as Alexianna's Darklord monster made a roll and dodged, flying low over white snow.

Arctic winds clawed at faces and exposed skin, chilling to the bone and twice as insidious. The aerial cat-and-mouse game drew many onlookers and screams, and more than one Duelist took to the skies after Alexianna to deal with the Winged Beasts.

The Dragon's mouth opened, its maw of teeth and bone unleashing a torrent of flame towards the escaping Darklord. The barrel-shaped monster just spun, until Alexianna was directly facing the torrent. "Infernal Flame!"

Black flame poured out, overpowering the dragon's torrent and causing Satsuki to leap off as the dragon was enveloped in flames. Right as the monster bellowed and shattered, Satsuki conjured a gold and faïence matchlock pistol, the black flame that lashed out at her being enveloped within the gun before Satsuki aimed and fired.

A crimson-haired armoured Harpie Lady dived, whip lashing out which Satsuki caught hold of before Alexianna screamed in pain. The Darklord Superbia retreated slightly, buffeted by the winds.

Alexianna limply hanging in its embrace, shaking with the effort of maintaining the solidity of it. "Bitch."

"My grand-mama could do better than you," Satsuki answered. "And my grand-daddy would probably wimp out, but then, it's Katsuya Jounochi we're talking about."

"This shouldn't be possible," Alexianna hissed. "You should have burnt."

"Impossibility is only dictated by the mind that believes so," Satsuki answered. "Either way, you will not surrender?"

"I refuse," Alexianna replied.

"Possibly, anything that I could have said has already gone through your mind," Satsuki pondered.

"Then anything that I could have replied has gone through yours," Alexianna bit back.

"Absolutely," Satsuki dropped the gun, letting the heavy weapon spiral down towards the Arctic as she pulled a card from her belt. "A pity, then. Aero Nail!"

Alexianna stiffened, before she twitched, causing the monster holding her to drop. A heartbeat later, two Harpies dropped, diving after her with screeches of triumph that quickly turned to horror. Satsuki herself had dropped onto another dragon, and now the green Dragon Ruler of Storms spiralled down, howling in anger as the blonde rider found only a scattering of black feathers where the Darklord Duelist had been.

"She escaped, then," Satsuki shrugged.

"What should we do, General?" the orange-haired Harpie asked.

"Nothing," Satsuki muttered, beckoning as a dark-winged imp drifted close in the air. "Tell Michiru that Angel is flying in on her."

A few kilometres away, Alexianna dialled furiously, keeping close to the ground level as she flew lowly. "Angel to outpost, do you copy? Over."

"_Outpost to Angel, we hear you,_" the male voice of the man she had been talking to answered._ "Over._"

"Did you catch the footage?"

"_We're forwarding it as we speak, __Angel__. This is prime intelligence for the upcoming battle. __You did good, are you hurt? We can send a convoy._"

"No, but I'm tired and sore, and I'm going to be out of commission for a few days. I can't rest yet, though," Alexianna scanned the surroundings. "The GPS on this unit is on. I need directions towards the next Winter invasion point in the Northwest Territories."

"_What? But you've just narrowly escaped-_"

Alexianna pulled the headset away as a boom resounded through the tinny speakers. "What? Hello, outpost?"

"... _bomb_," the man's voice returned. "_They're bombing Iqaluit. At this rate, if the bombs don't get us first, the __cold __will. __I'll see if I can lure Kujaku into a Duel, might be able to hold them off. __Outpost to Angel, over and out__-_"

"Hello? Wait!" Alexianna screamed. "Shinamori-san!"

Far back on the roof of the outpost building, a tall pale man scowled as the remnants of the phone dropped. Short red and gold hair peeked out of his carmine parka which enveloped his frame, and amber eyes glimmered from within the hood as Satoshi took a step back from the blade at his throat.

"Who are you?" Satsuki hissed, gripping the Aero Nail in one gloved hand.

"Satsuki Kujaku, Class IV Psychic Duelist," Satoshi muttered, touching where the blade had drawn a trickle of blood. "No, should I say... Satsuki Kujaku, the student of Crow Hogan, the grand-daughter of Katsuya Jounochi, and the inheritor of the Harpie Lady style from your grandmother, Mai Kujaku. Your Duel legacy is peppered with legends. Of course, as befitting one of the four legendary Duelists Duel Academia Queens produced."

"I don't think you came here to talk about my family history," Satsuki sharply retorted. "What's it to you?"

"You're right. I didn't," Satoshi agreed. "What I want to know is, why, two years ago, you disappeared. Why, two years ago, at the same time as the first disappearance of Ayame Yuuki, you disappeared from your grandparents' house, abandoned your teacher, and then appeared next in cohorts with Setsuka Shimotsuki, whom you were already well acquainted with, if not from the Arcadia Movement or from your friend Kisara Kaiba, then from your status as one of the four Queens of Queens. Because, even before she disappeared three years ago, right beside Seiran Hinamori, Hazuki Himemiya, and you, the greatest and undisputed top Duelist, and the leader of the Queens of Queens, was her.

"What I want to know, Ms Kujaku, is what drove you to abandon your elderly grandparents to side with Shimotsuki Setsuka."

"Personal business," Satsuki countered.

"I don't think you take pleasure in pain," Satoshi disagreed. "I don't think you were neglected by your family, like Tenjouin Michiru was hypothesised to have felt. In fact, the lengths at which you drove the protection of your grandfather from me, the lengths to which you drove Mr Hogan from searching for you, it suggested that you were protecting them while keeping your distance. Ms Kujaku... Satsuki... what made you take the side of Winter?"

"It is an answer you have no need to know," Satsuki replied. "Even supposing that I am interested, what will you offer me for that answer? I have no need for money, power, or morals, let me make that clear first. I'm the right hand of the Winter Queen, feared enemy of the world all over."

"Of course not," Satoshi nodded. "I am prepared to offer you peace. In exchange for finding out who, how, when and why you threw aside everything to follow what must have been a distant acquaintance-"

"She's not."

Satoshi blinked. "S- Setsuka Shimotsuki?"

"Have you ever felt despair of seeing a family member die?" Satsuki asked without preamble. "If you have, that's my story. I begged her to give them life together, a bit more time. I was told the consequences, fully and truly, and that their deaths were inevitable. I was told that I would have to kill many people, that I would have to serve her. I was told that I would be her executioner, her assassin, her messenger. I was told that, many times over, I would have to do things I had no choice but to do, because I have made a deal, and deals with the family of Shimotsuki Setsuka are not easy to break. So, I was fully aware of the bloodstained consequences my choice led me to, and at the very least, throughout the whole thing, she never lied to me. In all my acquaintance, I have never known her to lie. I saw them die together, hand in hand, side by side."

"... I know," Satoshi admitted. "You were seen. I pulled a few favours to track you down here."

"I supposed you bribed a spirit. It's not hard," Satsuki stared at him, eyes unblinking. "For once in my life, this cursed power of mine is of use to someone. That's why I will help Setsuka."

"That's a huge sacrifice," Satoshi pointed out.

"For her dream, for her ideals, I don't mind!"

"I still can't let you," the male Duelist sighed. "So how's we deal with this the usual way?"

The Aero Nail bent in half, the blade fanning out into a wing. Circuitry patterns in the steel gleamed green, lighting up Satsuki's features in ghostly verdant light. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Duel!"

Satsuki: LP 8000

Satoshi: LP 8000

"Ladies first," Satoshi made an ironic bow.

"I will," Satsuki countered. "I draw! Come, Cyber Harpie Lady [1800/1300]!"

In an unholy screech, the monster appeared on the field.

"Mai Kujaku's signature card," Satoshi muttered to himself.

"I will set two cards and end my turn," Satsuki declared.

"This..." Satoshi grimaced. "My turn, draw! I summon Flamvell Firedog [1900/200]!"

A howl echoed as the flaming hound appeared onto the field.

"Firedog, roast that Lady!" Satoshi ordered.

"Trap card, Infernal Flame," Satsuki defended as a burst of black flame eradicated the monster. "Not only is the attacking monster destroyed, but half of its attack power is inflicted onto you as damage. All I have to do is discard a card."

Satoshi: LP 8000 → LP 7050

Satsuki: LP 8000

"Dammit... I play the Spell, Molten Transmission Field," Satoshi called. "From my deck, I send two Laval monsters to the graveyard such as Laval Volcano Handmaiden and Laval Magma Cannoneer. When Volcano Handmaiden is sent to the graveyard while another Laval monster is asleep with her, she allows me to mill another Laval monster, and I choose Laval Lakeside Lady."

Here Satoshi paused, looking at the girl. "We don't have to do this. I can help you, Satsuki. You don't have to follow her."

"But I do, you see," Satsuki tilted her head to consider him. "It's not my choice any more. Much as I am reluctant to kill you, I must do so if you persist in standing in the way of Winter."

"People are going to die!" Satoshi yelled.

Satsuki's eyes went cold. "Continue your turn," her answer was frosty as the queen she served, "or we will have words, and none of them are nice."

"I activate the Spell, Rekindling!" Satoshi yelled. "This card special summons all Fire Attribute monsters from my graveyard with two hundred or less defence power. So arise, Laval Volcano Handmaiden [100/200], Laval Lakeside Lady [300/200], Laval Magma Cannoneer [1700/200], Flamvell Firedog [1900/200]!"

"But at the end of the turn, they'll be banished," Satsuki hissed in the face of the fiery monsters.

"It doesn't matter," Satoshi resolved. "Tuning, level four Laval Magma Cannoneer to level one Volcano Handmaiden. In loudest din or hush profound, my ears catch evil's slightest sound. Let those who toll out evil's knell, beware the powers by the veil! Synchro summon! Come, Lavalval Dragon!"

With a bellow, the giant dragon covered in volcanic rock [2000/1100] appeared.

"Tuning, level four Firedog to level three Lakeside Lady," Satoshi continued. "In brightest day, in blackest night, behold, the fire of will in light. To all who stand before this sight, behold the power, all fires might. Synchro summon, Laval Stennon!"

Cannons spun in their housings as the monster [2700/1800] crashed upon the field, a splash of molten rock blighting the pure snow.

"When this card's Synchro summoned, I send one card from my hand to the graveyard," Satoshi concluded. "Also, when it's targeted by a card effect, I can banish a Laval monster from my graveyard to negate that effect and destroy the card. I'll end my turn here."

"End phase, the magic card I discarded activates." Satsuki cut in.

"What?" Satoshi looked taken aback.

"At the end phase of the turn Hysteric Sign was sent from my hand or the field to my graveyard, I can retrieve three different Harpie cards from my deck to add to my hand," Satsuki announced without preamble. "I choose Harpie Channeler, Harpie Queen and Harpie Lady One to add from my deck to my hand."

"...damn," Satoshi muttered.

"Draw," Satsuki called. "I summon Harpie Channeler [1400/1300]."

An orange-haired Harpie with her hair done in looped pigtails, a staff in her claws and black wings appeared, smirking in her slinky white dress with matching stockings. A chain dangled from her staff as she coyly winked at Satoshi.

"I use the effect of Channeler right now; by discarding a Harpie card, I can special summon another Harpie monster from my deck in face-up defence mode. I'll discard Harpie Queen to special summon Harpie Dancer [1200/1000] from my deck. I use the effect of Harpie Dancer, returning her to my hand for the advantage of the normal summon of a Wind monster. I summon Harpie Lady One [1300/1400 → 1600/1400] [1400/1300 → 1700/1300] [1800/1300 → 2100/1300]."

Satoshi winced, but only briefly. "So you have three monsters ready for battle."

"That's wrong," Satsuki pointed out. "With the level four Cyber Harpie Lady and Harpie Channeler, I construct the overlay network with these two monsters! When the queens of the storms combine with the will of the cold, the result will bring the hailstorm down upon everything!"

Snow began to fall. Ice formed on her eyelashes, and her breathed steamed. The temperature dropped several times, and from the skies above the monster spread blocky sharp dark blue wings.

"Exceed summon!" Satsuki bellowed. "Soar, Sylphine, the Sub-Zero Siren!"

Against its light-blue, almost white skin, the female winged monster had dark blue crystalline plates that served as a skirt, as armour on her arms and legs, and all over her head. Her bodice was white, and so pale as to blend with her skin [2000/2200].

"The effect of Sylphine; by detaching one overlay unit, until my next standby phase, I can negate all face-up cards my opponent controls, and she also gains three hundred attack power for each other face-up card on the field." Satsuki announced. "Perfect Freeze!"

The winged monster spread its claws, and ice covered the field. Black ice, as in clear ice, the water crystals so impossibly thin, formed over the field. Satsuki was channelling the power of Winter, and now it said to freeze the field as an expression of her power, and that of the queen she served [2000/2200 → 2900/2200].

"Call of the Haunted," Satsuki added, and the card rose with the body of the revived Harpie Queen [1900/1200 → 2200/1200]

"Battle," the words sounded brief from her mouth. "Sylphine, crush that Laval Stennon! Ice Ray!"

Satoshi: LP 7050 → LP 6850

Satsuki: LP 8000

"Harpie Queen, attack his Dragon!" Satsuki instructed as the queen dove for the dragon, slashing it in the throat.

Satoshi: LP 6850 → LP 6650

Satsuki: LP 8000

"Harpie Lady One, direct attack!" Satsuki yelled as the monster cackled and dove for Satoshi.

Satoshi: LP 6650 → LP 5050

Satsuki: LP 8000

"Turn end with a set card," Satsuki announced.

"My turn... draw!" Satoshi hissed, shaking in the cold. "That monster... so cold. Is that it? Your Duel Spirit... no, your _collar_..."

"Correct," Satsuki answered. "This monster, amongst one of many, is the mark of a contract with the Duel Spirits under the Winter Queen. A creature between sylph and undine, of the skies and the lakes. There is no better name for it than Sylphine."

"I'll set a monster and end my turn," Satoshi announced.

"Draw," Satsuki called. "My standby phase arrives, and with it the loss of Sylphine's effect [2900/2200 → 2000/2000].I construct the overlay network with these two monsters. Exceed summon! Raise the thunder, Lightning Chidori!"

Wings of electricity spread as the monster appeared, crackling with power [1900/1600].

"When this card is Exceed summoned, I can bounce a set card to the bottom of your deck," Satsuki made a motion as the set monster was swept aside and into the air. "Lightning Chidori, attack him directly!"

A flash of green resounded before his eyes before Satoshi was thrown back flat on his back.

Satoshi: LP 5050 → LP 3150

Satsuki: LP 8000

"To the declaration of Sylphine, I chain the quick-play Spell, Blizzard Jet," Satsuki commented. "Sylphine gains fifteen hundred attack power [2000/2200 → 3500/2200]. Oh lost soul within the darkness... freeze and die peacefully as only Winter can grant."

"No," Satoshi gasped, even as blood stained the snow and the monster loomed ever larger, its Exceed material a wink of light against a backdrop of many stars. It lifted its blade, the tip resting on his sternum and poised to deliver a fatal blow. "Why? I just... want to help you."

"In that case... I'm sorry you got dragged into this business," Satsuki closed her eyes, before opening them. "I will not look away from your death, as befits a Duelist."

Satoshi Shinamori drew a breath as the dark blade ate into his sternum and heart. Satsuki twitched, before she jumped back as the area around Satoshi combusted. Cloying smoke wafted about, and Satsuki coughed before waving a hand; a wind blew the smoke away, revealing the disappearance of Satoshi save for a drop of blood on the roof's snow.

_What, what, _a chuckle rang out, amused. _Is that it of the Queen's knight? Marshal, looks like you're losing your touch._

"He didn't deserve it," Satsuki spoke as if to empty air, as she bade the monster start the search across the hard-packed tundra. "I can't be as heartless as you, General Tenjouin. Besides, it looks like Summer retrieved him."

_I hear Angel is coming, _the voice ended in a giggle. _That's nice. I've been getting lonely. Suiren is glued to Her Majesty and you won't let me near Lily, so it'll be nice to corrupt someone's whole world-view before we kill them. It's a waste, letting us loose on the human world like this._

Satsuki shuddered. She could imagine Michiru's expression as she spoke the next question. "Then why are you following her plan, General of Winter's Armed Forces?"

_I am bored._ The enunciation was clear, as if she might have been conversing of the weather. _And dying humans are pretty. __What about you, Marshal of Winter's Aerial Forces?_

The release of the signal to pull back saved her from answering. It was just as well, as Satsuki Kujaku had no answer ready.

* * *

_Infirmary, Dormitory Wing,  
Central Arcadia Movement Headquarters, La Castle.  
Neo Domino City, Republic of Japan.  
29 October 20XX (+9:00 GMT, 0400 hours)_

Nikki's eyes blearily opened to regard the painted white ceiling. "Hospital...?"

She sat up. "No... this must be the infirmary."

"Oh, you're awake," Dr Erik muttered but said nothing else. "You're suffering from Psychic exhaustion."

"Exhaustion...?" Nikki echoed.

"Temporary overuse," Dr Erik answered, still absent-minded. "Few hours of sleep, you'll be put right. Otherwise, there's a high chance your body or mind could be damaged irreparably and then... you won't be able to use your powers without risk to yourself. Many rogue Psychics succumbed like that."

"Oh..." Nikki swallowed dryly. "May I have some water?"

"Cooler's there," Dr Erik pointed to the cooler beside a door leading off to an adjoining room with a glass panel. The glass panel was marked and scratched and broken in places, as if someone had tried to attack it but failed, a black mark of the sterility of the infirmary. Nikki struggled up, finding her body sore but not pained, and went over to grab some water.

The room was clearly big enough to contain only one bed, where a single figure slept. "That... who is that?" Nikki whispered.

"Huh?" Dr Erik yawned as he looked up. "Oh... _him_."

Nikki nearly flinched at the venom in the doctor's voice.

"His name is Kiyoshi," Dr Erik continued. "'Bout three years back, maybe four, he betrayed the Arcadia Movement. Shimotsuki disappeared him, returned him five months later. We just put him there for his own protection and safety, let him sleep. He's the cautionary tale, you see."

"A cautionary tale?" Nikki looked close. "Protected by reinforced glass?"

"Kannazuki kept him here," Dr Erik shook her head. "Alive. Should've been put down, everyone thought, but Kannazuki kept him here. We have a DNR order signed by the boyfriend, but otherwise we can only keep him sedated, peaceful."

"What happened to him?" Nikki asked despite herself.

Dr Erik sighed, got out a ring of keys and unlocked the door, before pressing his thumb to the doorknob. The door swung open with a click, and Nikki followed wordlessly as the doctor went in and flicked on the lights.

The man's mouth hung partly open, showing his teeth inscribed with whorls and Celtic designs, then stained with something dark and brown. His eyelids were scored through with what looked like fingernails. Every bit of him had been tattooed, and Nikki could reach only a single phrase, that seemed to echo the intent of all of the words that had been scratched into the skin of an otherwise rather pretty man.

_Traitor_.

"That tattoo reaches around the entire body," Dr Erik tonelessly lectured, not caring as Nikki backed away. "Traitor, in every language. There's more injuries under the blankets, scars and whatnot. And when he's off the morphine, he whimpers. Like an animal in pain. Can't even get close to the boyfriend, keeps screaming. What she did to him dehumanised him, broke his mind and reason beyond repair, and broke him. Kannazuki said to keep him here, in the tower full of the people he betrayed, alive. More cruel than you think it is, and a waste of good drugs besides."

"Shimotsuki... isn't human," Nikki whispered, aghast. "She... she did this to him? For... for betraying the Movement?"

"She wasn't even its head then, Kannazuki already took over," Dr Erik nodded, walking out as the lights went off. Nikki stood beside him as he locked the room. "Orion said to keep him there... more peaceful, you see. Also a grisly reminder of what happens when you cross a Shimotsuki. There might be more victims, who knows."

"This is... this is just brutal," Nikki whispered. "And the Arcadia Movement won't forgive him?"

"We don't forget, lass," Dr Erik answered. "None here forgive easily, either. The Missy held a grudge for two years before she took revenge; we're patient like that. One day, there might be an accident, Kiyoshi, poor boy he is, might wake up, and the worst part... is that I think he's still aware of everything happening to him. I hope he never wakes up."

It was a solemn Nikki that went back to her bed. "What about my..."

"Sleep," Dr Erik ordered as his radio beeped. "I've got to go."

Nikki barely slept, waking only after a bare hour. Cologne's form appeared by her bed, solemn.

_You are upset, _she observed.

"No one deserves... that," Nikki whispered.

_He is a traitor. It is as a traitor deserves._

"But as a fellow human being..." Nikki implored. "It's... too cruel."

_Not in a land of monsters. They probably raped him, as well. Entertainment in the Winter Court could mean dancing in red-hot shoes of metal, or singing while drowning in a pool of wine, or an eating contest where the opposer would be stuffed full to bursting, or-_

"Enough!" Nikki cried, closing her ears. "Then..."

_If my kingdom is conquered by Winter... no. If the human world is conquered by Winter... _Cologne regarded Nikki. _This world will become one of Winter's, of anarchic, endless cycles of predator and prey. Such a world will not be kind to mortals. Or anyone._

"Then... how do I save your kingdom?" Nikki whispered. "How do I save the world?"

_What do you have?_

What do _I_ have? Nikki racked her brains. "My powers. My cards. You."

_What else?_

"I... don't know," Nikki whispered. "I can't even get to them..."

Cologne shook her head. _I detected a familiar signal about here. If I am right, it will lead us into a gate between worlds. We will be able to return to my world, and thus the seat of the Winter Court._

"An opportunity to fight her..." Nikki nodded. "Cologne... lead me to it. Please."

Cologne did not answer for a long moment. _But..._

"Lead me to it, please," Nikki insisted. "I have to do it, for Ayame-neesan... for everyone who suffered from her."

..._very well._

* * *

_Suite 1, 22nd Floor, Dormitory Wing,  
Central Arcadia Movement Headquarters, La Castle.  
Neo Domino City, Republic of Japan.  
29 October 20XX (+9:00 GMT, 0403 hours)_

"What the fuck-" Orion cut off. "Shit."

"_W__ithin one hour of my conclusion, __I shall expect a reply,_" Setsuka continued. A shift of the head, a normalising factor, on the Queen who had yet to move, still as a statue throughout her pronouncement. "_D__o understand, that if my retinue is treated as alien and unfitting of the privileges and duties of all ambassadors __the United Nations accepts, I will respond as the will of a sovereign nation-state __dictates__. __Russia itself will provide the means to do so._"

The broadcast cut off. "_This is brought to you by Jane Seymour..._"

Chopsticks clattered into the enamelled bowl as Orion reached for the wall phone. "Comm, this is Polaris calling from the penthouse. Call an emergency meeting, drag Kaido and the leaders of all our administrations matters out. The Yamada twins are on patrol? Reassign someone, heck, go on patrol yourself if needed, Kraehe. Put Titania on the phone. Titania? Polaris speaking. Shimotsuki just went on live worldwide broadcast, we're going to make plans. Movements worldwide are calling in? Release a statement, tell them we've got plans under implementation, further details to be worked out. We've been expecting it for a while, but we thought that she couldn't be crazy enough to declare open war- the Queen Elizabeth Islands taken over? Prepare evacuation, get people out if needed. Also send a message to the Plateau, ally with the guys in Ontario. I don't care if it's unprecedented, the Canadian guys are going to need backup. US Army on their tail? The Tower and the Statute can deal for now, buy us time to get everything in motion. Oh, and you're going to appear as well, Titania. Over and out."

"What's going on?" Yuuko jumped to her feet. "Did Setsuka just... where is she?"

"Ellesmere Island," Orion answered, grabbing a jacket hanging from the couch and walking to tug on his shoes. "Right on Canada's doorstep and advancing."

"How?" Yuuko leapt to her feet. "That's nearly- half a continent!"

"That's what I'm going to figure out," Orion sighed. "Captain, please don't wait up. Good night."

"Wait-!" Yuuko had barely opened her mouth before Orion swept out, already shuffling his deck.

There were three men waiting in the War Room when he arrived; Kaido, who looked halfway between irritated, exhausted and strung out on coffee. Chase, in his black coat, and smelling strongly of smoke in a way that made Orion ponder if there was a fire on the premises. The two of them were yelling; knowing Princeton, Orion could smell the bill already.

"Why is it that when the two of you hang out together, we end up getting bills for property damage?" Orion asked the man beside Chase, tilting his head down.

Nowaki Misawa, or Youkai, blinked crimson eyes as he brushed snow-white locks out of his eyes. "Sparks fly. A lot."

"We do not have sex at crime scenes, ever!" Chase fought off Kaido with that verbal épée and turned only to blink at Orion. "When did _you_ turn up?"

"Thirty seconds ago," Orion mumbled. "What's this about sex at crime scenes?"

"... I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

"Er... no," Orion allowed. "By the way, how's Angelo?"

"He's busy, we loaded Ryuusuke Diamondblade to them, and we pressed the Changelings transferring to Sanctuary," Youkai mumbled. "It's been easier for them, too, but since most of them were already Arcadia members to begin with, there's hope that we could use some intelligence. Anything better than vague ideas and putting Chase in danger."

"And you," Chase relented, his frown falling until the young man just looked exhausted. "You're always tagging with me, Youkai."

"You're a danger magnet, someone's got to pull your arse out of the fire, and it's not going to be that coat," Youkai wrinkled his nose.

"Sorry... I'm... late," Panting echoed as the men turned around and Orion rushed to relieve the files from a red-haired girl dressed in a pencil skirt and a shirt with a suit jacket. "Got... everything..."

"Thanks, Titania," Orion briefly glanced through the files.

The named Psychic Duelist beamed. "I also got... Hinamori Seiran."

"Codename Libra, the Belle Dame sans Merci?" Kaido sat up as the blonde bombshell in dark blue barged into the room.

"Hi!" she grinned. "Name and codename?"

Chase blinked. "Er... Chase Princeton. I don't have a codename. And we know each other, Hinamori."

"Do we?" Seiran blinked as the door opened.

"Yes, we do!" Chase snapped. "Or we did! Or... something!"

"Ignore him," Youkai told her, pushing Chase towards the nearest chair. "He just went through another phase of near-death running. It's the adrenaline."

"Ahh," Seiran smirked. "So he won't mind it if I break his hands?"

Very slowly, all Psychics inched away from her.

"You're not breaking anyone's hands, Libra," Yuko Yamada muttered as he walked in, followed by his own older, more cold-looking doppelgänger. Both of them had blue hair, but Yukio Yamada had a sort of haunted look about him as he silently glared at all and sundry, except at Orion, which he refused to even look at. "I think we had this conversation more than once."

Seiran scowled, but relented. "You're no fun."

"Well, no one can accuse you of not being arresting," Orion pleasantly replied. "And opposing your boss in school, that takes guts. Especially with Setsuka. I'm not really familiar with DA student politics, but I understand that Setsuka was technically part of the Discipline Committee?"

"She was its leader," Seiran shrugged. "In the three years she was there, quite a lot would argue that she was effective, if rather terrifying. Did Nakamura-san ever mention that time where she waged a one-woman gangland war against Domino High?"

"No," Orion's smile was obviously plastered on his face as he regarded Nakamura-san entering the War Room. "He did not. In fact, it seems like most of Setsuka's high school years were lost to memory."

Hazuki looked away as Seiran laughed. "You wouldn't find them like that. Take Hazuki. She served as Shimotsuki-san's vice-chair and till today she's not talking about it."

"It's not... nice," Hazuki hesitated.

"What, did she kill people?" Seiran joked.

"... she was in love."

"Yes, she- _what_." In the flash of an eye, Seiran's smile had morphed into a stone-cold expression that was directed in barely hidden shock towards Hazuki. "What."

"Jimmy Cook," Chase groaned. "Always goes back to the fella, doesn't it?"

"Your Texan is drawling out," Youkai shushed him.

"I know, but it's a special occasion, the one day we're planning a strategy and the conversation turns to Shimotsuki's love life," Chase chuckled, his eyes wide and with a faraway look.

"It's the codeine," Youkai whispered. "We met a few monsters on our way here, but Chase didn't want to take it yet. I just dosed him with it through his coffee."

"You dosed our spirit expert with _opiates_?" Kaido looked aghast.

"He can talk!" Youkai looked concerned.

"Fine," Orion nodded, scanning through newly arrived correspondence in the tablet Hazuki handed him. "Well, looks like our previous discussion had merit."

"On the love life of Shimotsuki Setsuka," Yuko repeated, his tone flat. "Yukio, you were her apprentice, right?"

Yukio grunted.

"Something intelligible would be nice."

"I don't know," Yukio mumbled. "She's private. What does it matter, anyway?"

"Yukio..." Yuko frowned.

"Right, so they're in Nunavut now," Kaido studied. "And the casualties?"

"Mostly on the Canadian side, no reports of the other side," Orion muttered. "On the bright side... news from the Bastille in Paris. The first of the Russian refugees are coming in, babbling about monsters. The European Union is going to be taking action on this."

"Never mind them, what about the declaration of war?" Kaido hotly pointed out. "She just announced that she's taking revenge on all of us."

"Doesn't... make sense..." Chase muttered.

Kaido turned one of the screens on, Setsuka's features gracing the screen.

"... _P__eoples of your world of __mortals, __the Arcadia Movement that I once ruled__... do you think you__r__ world is safe? __It__ is assuredly not; it__ is a comforting lie told to protect you._"

"That's a direct threat," Seiran affirmed.

"Hi, sorry I'm late," Dr Erik stormed in. "Is that...?"

"_Savour these moments of peace, for I have __come to visit revenge upon all of you__._" The TV Setsuka's smile was frozen as Kaido paused the recording.

"What's her strategy?" Yuko muttered. "By starting in Russia and then moving to Canada..."

"They're Arctic Circle countries," Kaido answered. "If I have to guess... then she's taking over the entire Arctic Circle. Greenland would be next."

"If they're intending to stick with the pattern," Orion frowned. "Where is Jimmy Cook now?"

"The Bastille has him in The Hague," Hazuki softly informed them. "Negotiations hasn't opened yet."

"We don't have time." Orion muttered. "Alright, we need to get rid of the army. What's the most likely way?"

"If that army is driven only by one target..." Kaido paused. "Then we must remove the one directing their power. Obviously, the step would be to remove... the Winter Queen."

"...right," Orion looked back down. "Kaido... organise a plane trip. Three legs; one across the Straits of Japan, one to The Hague for Jimmy Cook, and then one to the UN headquarters. I'll be taking Nakamura-san and Yamada Yukio with me."

"What?" Yukio's head shot up, the blue-haired young man instantly more alert than anything else. "I can't!"

"I'll explain why later. Anyone else to bring?"

"I'll be coming, Polaris," Hazuki mumbled. "I... Seiran can't leave Neo Domino because of her obligations. As one of the Queens of Queens... no, as one of the other four who knew her, and who stands a chance at matching her, I have an obligation."

"What about Kraehe?" Kaido asked. "The reason you joined in the first place was for your sister, wasn't it, Titania?"

"Uzuki... will survive," Hazuki shook her head. "But, to have to face Shimotsuki Setsuka, the woman who might have killer her best friend... would be too much for her. I will follow, and..."

"Can you state with absolute certainty, that you have a chance?" Kaido demanded. "She's the commander-in-chief of humanity's enemy. Even assuming that an assassin would succeed, that's risking your life! We can't afford to lose you, Titania."

"Okay."

"What?" Kaido turned to Orion. "Why the hell did you agree, moron?"

"Kaido, you forget your place," Orion's eyes narrowed, and even the bespectacled bureaucrat flinched.

"S- Sorry... Polaris..."

"I'll need to keep abreast of all happenings, and short of you, Titania is the only one who can manage that kind of workload on the go," Orion explained. "Furthermore, if I'm right, what Setsuka made at the end was a nuclear threat. In the interests of avoiding a nuclear war with the Russian proxy, negotiations will open, and the venue will most likely be open to the public. She couldn't risk it at this juncture."

"That's assuming that she needs public support."

"Chase?" Youkai squawked as the black-haired man sat up, rubbing his neck through the turtle-neck he wore. "I thought- the codeine!"

"I've been given too many opiates," Chase muttered, cracking his neck. "Woke up during Her Nibs' announcement of vengeance, but couldn't sit up till now. We are going to have words about drugging me later."

He stared at Orion. "Now, let us go back to about two years ago or so. Remember the Second Duelist Kingdom?"

Orion's jaw set. "Hard not to."

"Remember what she did?"

The feeling of stomach linings being torn apart by brute strength still gave him nightmares. Orion's hand drifted to the scar on his abdomen, the one which had nearly killed him. "Vividly."

"She did that in front of Seika," Chase pressed. "That tells you something, that she doesn't care about our opinions, our safety, or even what we think of her. She's capable of it, and everything to do with it. And right now, with this declaration, she's just dragged the world into her argument with the Movement. Public opinion ain't on her side, and she's still going with it."

"Meaning she doesn't need public opinion," Orion nodded. "Meaning... then the Arctic Circle- oh crap."

"What?" Hazuki pressed. "What about it?"

"Base of operations," Orion gasped. "Spreading out. Indiscriminate."

Kaido's eyes widened in realisation. "Then... what do we do?"

Orion's eyes hardened, flinty as he considered the tablets and their windows. "One question... what is the probability, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that Setsuka is in love with this Jimmy Cook?"

"I... I don't know," Hazuki muttered. "She... she married him. There's a certificate, but it's not legal... she left him something in her instructions before you came, but..."

"Absolutely." Kaido looked up, meeting Orion evenly in their eyes. "There's cabinets of potential love interests waiting to be shot."

Orion took a deep breath, air exiting from his nostrils in one long fluid breath. "We're using the man as bait. Which means we'll have to go retrieve him."

"But... the blockade..." Kaido hesitated.

"Russian airspace is also highly controlled, according to the reports I've been receiving," Hazuki relayed. "So, three legs. One to China, one to the Netherlands, and then one to New York?"

Orion nodded. "I want you to call up the Tower and the Statute, persuade the Pentagon to buy us time. Also, call Okinawa. I wouldn't mind if we could commission a plane to ourselves."

"But... the question remains, how to fly out, Orion-sama," Nakamura pointed out. "I will remain."

"What?"

"I am old, Orion-sama," Nakamura answered. "I am the oldest member of the Arcadia Movement. There is no way I could follow you, not even to stop Missy. Furthermore, I used to serve Missy. Please do not make me choose between two masters."

"...you're right," Orion nodded. "I'm sorry, Nakamura-san. I forgot."

"Well, there's another way," Chase pondered. "A way to avoid the blockade, and everything."

Youkai blinked before comprehension dawned. "You mean..."

"_That_?" Kaido echoed. "But... you said it yourself. Using that means alerting the Duel Spirits!"

"The Fellowship of Grigori has coordinates that show the fastest way of travelling," Chase insisted. "I've walked them, I remember them. I can get your team through the journey faster than you can fly. There's no guarantee that we'll manage in time-"

"That means essentially walking through enemy territory!" Kaido yelled back. "Get this in your head, Princeton; you're the resident expert!"

"I filled Rex in with everything before he left Neo Domino with Carly-san and Reina," Chase retorted. "The Spheres are in your office, aren't they? We can make it, maybe even to the heart of Winter itself."

"We need to figure out how the Winter forces move so quickly, you're not taking them all," Kaido snapped.

"I just need _one_," Chase leaned forward. "I can get your team to the Netherlands in a faster and arguably safer and more efficient method. If we pick up information on the other end, it's a bonus for us. You worked for Shimotsuki, Kaido, and even you can't read her. Orion is the only person who stands a chance of countering her plans, but he can't read them. I am the only one who can read Shimotsuki's plans, but I can't counter them. Between the two of us, we can beat her. To even get any chance at success, I need one fucking Sphere, one of the fucking keys to the gates between worlds that the Fellowship and the Arcadia Movement have locked up here and are still struggling with, and to be on that team to bring Shimotsuki Setsuka down."

Kaido stared evenly at him. "This is personal for you."

"Damn right it is," Chase muttered.

"Chase," Youkai warningly murmured.

"There are dragons over the Pacific Ocean, and more over the Straits of Japan," Hazuki nodded. "I hate to admit it, but Princeton-san is right."

"And we only have three days to act," Chase added.

"Why?" Yukio spoke up, breaking silence for once.

"In three- no," Chase recounted. "On Halloween, there's a conjunction of time. A shift in seasons from autumn to winter. That's when the monarchs are mortal, and that's the only time when she can be killed. If we fail... we'll have to wait another year, and who knows what damage she'll do in that time."

Orion steepled his fingers, before nodding. "We'll go with Princeton's suggestion. Titania, Cold Wolf, you're coming with me. Spirit, prepare to hold down the Castle with Bushido and the rest while we aren't here. And just in case... Nakamura-san."

"Yes, Orion-sama?" the old man blinked.

"In the case that I don't make it back..." Orion pronounced. "Take the name of Polaris. Please."

Nakamura's jaw set. "Be safe, then."

"I know... it's hard on you, Nakamura-san," Orion nodded. "Thank you."

"I have served the Hunters for over thirty years of my life," Nakamura answered. "If you will not live, then there is only one master left that I can serve. So please live."

"...thank you, Nakamura-san," Orion's smile cracked at the same time as the alarms went off.

"What-?" Kaido rushed towards the computer screens. "Polaris, it's your student! It's... fucking hell, she stole one of the Spheres!"

* * *

_**Please review!**_


	7. VI: Extreme Pressure Power

_**Grisaille Gaol**_

_**Note: Any events similar to the real world are pure coincidence.**_

* * *

**VI: Extreme Pressure Power**

_Shore of Mansel Island,  
Hudson Bay, Canada,  
29 October 20XX (-8:00 GMT)_

"There is no way Angel is going to fly all the way here," Michiru Tenjouin scowled as she watched the churning dark salt-waters. Wrapped up in a dark blue parka and black leggings edged with black fur, Michiru's new silver-flecked black locks were hardly visible under her hood. In fact, neither painted fingers nor toes had managed to escape being wrapped up; she was that cold. "I'm suppose to be tearing up the Northwest Territories. Why am I here?"

Legs crossed and perched on a lichen-covered rock, Setsuka cast her gaze over the rocky tundra, and over the seas towards Coats Island on her left, then towards her right, where lay the islands of Nottingham and Salisbury, plus the northern cape of the Quebec coast. "Because I never told you to invade from the Northwest Territories."

"But it was the rational thing!" Michiru argued. "We could take Alaska there, it's a perfectly fine frozen hell-hole for us!"

"If we invade Alaska, it would be tantamount to open warfare against one of the remaining sovereign powers," Setsuka reasoned. "I will lose any opportunity of negotiation with the world's leaders _tête-a-tête_. In that case, the true chaos you wish for would not happen, since we would be engaged in the most brutal and distant of warfare; nuclear bombs."

"Why do you need true chaos?" Michiru glanced at her, expression laden with open suspicion.

"Otherwise, when I murder the leaders of the world openly, there won't be that fear, won't there?" A faux-innocent expression graced an otherwise coldly beautiful face.

Michiru's face split into a grin. "Sounds _fantastic_. This totally makes up for the past years."

"I see," Setsuka murmured, watching smoke rise from the distance. The sea winds, chilly even here, carried distant screams. "I thought you would weep for the death of your cousin, however necessary her death was."

"Ayame is, and was, a stuck-up bint who always followed Aunt Asuka's word," Michiru pronounced scornfully.

"And your other cousin?" Setsuka pressed. "Nicolette Kurosagi?"

"I don't care," Michiru snapped back, too quickly for it to be real.

"She is your family," Setsuka tilted her head. "Even I refrained from killing the sole family I have left. The retribution is simply not worth it."

"They can die for all I care," Michiru snapped. "I need a target, give me a target now. Anything to watch the steam rise from freshly dead corpses."

"You just like to kill, don't you?" Setsuka murmured, more to herself than for a conversation. "What was I thinking when I made you a general?"

"You made Kujaku marshal of your air force!"

"At least she is rational," Setsuka elaborated. "Maybe I should confer onto you a title. The Massacre General. Of course, you'll actually have to massacre first."

"Sounds tacky," Michiru idly muttered as she stomped her booted feet to keep the cold out. She smiled. "I'm glad I followed you nearly four years ago."

"Time passes for all," Setsuka commented. "It's just been... a while. Michiru..."

"Yes?"

"Do you miss Duel Academia?"

"...not really," Michiru crossed her arms. "I don't regret attending DA Queens, though, because I met you. Well, I challenged you, and you beat me before pressing me to work for you. I think... we're friends."

"I never finished my education at Queens," Setsuka murmured as the sea winds blew a gale that never touched her. "Three years ago, on Halloween, I would have died if it wasn't for a comedy of errors. Including you, Michiru."

Michiru gave a sad smile at the memory of the rain-soaked battle. "A crazy, flower-obsessed witch under Ryuusei's control, Ryuusei holding back on his power, and the mantle of the Winter Queen. Hard to forget. Even so... I know you could have won instead of letting him defeat you, Setsuka. Why didn't you?"

Setsuka turned to face the oncoming swarm approaching from over the horizon. Michiru cautiously watched her fur-clothed back.

Steel shuddered, and the destroyed Canadian Coast Guard Ship _Louis S. St-Laurent_ dropped from above. It was shortly followed by more shredded steel confetti, that Setsuka faced, unflinching even as a metal plate of her height and width landed at her feet.

_Iroquois, _the plate read.

"I wanted _people_," Setsuka said, not even raising her voice to the heavens. "Scrap metal cannot talk."

A second later, a terrified Coast Guardsman was lowered by cackling winged devils that Michiru gave a cheery wave to.

"If you recognise this crown, then there is no need to know my name," the Winter Queen coldly answered. "If you do not recognise this crown, then you do not deserve to know my name. Name and rank?"

"C- Captain- F- Fred Williams... ma'am." the blond soldier faltered under her gaze.

"Very good," Setsuka answered. "Now, according to the Third Geneva Convention which Winter is technically not a signatory of, but is acting by the Russian interests, I am not allowed to do anything beyond the simple answering of a question. Physical, mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, I believe. So, if I were to ask of the approaching armaments used by your country, your response?"

"Would be name, rank and serial number... ma'am."

"Is that your final answer?"

The soldier met her eyes. The soldier looked down. "Yes, ma'am. I've just called in my last coordinates. We'll be found very soon."

"Very well." Setsuka raised a hand. "Free as a bird you will be."

A swarm of crows swooped down, carrying the stunned officer up into the skies. The dark murder hovered higher and higher over the Hudson Bay, until it became a speck over a clear sky.

"Free as a bird you are," Setsuka reiterated as the murder of crows dispersed, and a distant splash sounded. "After all, birds fly."

"Unless Ryuusei decides to disrupt your plans, we're successful," Michiru doggedly pointed out as a white raven flocked overhead, and the Duelist plucked a message from its talon. "You know that they intervened in Shinamori's case, right?"

"Satoshi Shinamori has tried and failed three times to even touch me," Setsuka muttered. "It matters not his survival."

"Summer is the only thing that can kill you," Michiru harshly argued. "If they gain a Duelist..."

"And we do not have Duelists equal to him?" Setsuka asked.

"... right," Michiru looked up as a low bomber approached. "I'm... just worried for your sake, Your Majesty. They're sending a missile over right now. It's a nuclear missile, by the way. You really did them a favour, choosing Mansel Island to base on."

"Ah," Setsuka nodded, watching the rocket's tail-flares grow brighter in the distance. "Michiru..."

"Yes?"

"What are the chances that I may receive an immediate capitulation after I demonstrate this?"

"Incredible," Michiru summarised, grinning maniacally.

"When I am finished with this... you will enter Quebec." Setsuka raised a hand. "You will take our Armed Forces, tear it apart, and lead on towards Ottawa. Once the capital is seized, regroup with Satsuki and continue taking the rest of Canada, on to Vancouver. I intend to bathe the christening of Winter's legacy in the blood of millions."

Michiru grinned in a manner that was animalistic and painful for even serial killers. "Yes, Your Majesty!" Michiru raised a card in her hand. "Come, Unicore!"

Hooves clipped as the mythical horse-creature galloped next to its mistress. Its eyes gleamed red under the armoured skull, where the single spiked horn surrounded by brocade was placed in the very centre of its forehead. The armour it wore was light bronze and ochre, stark against a pure white coat that blended with Setsuka's ermine muff. As Michiru mounted the creature, an Arctic gale whispered over the island.

A pallor of white settled over Setsuka's features, her lips bluing as she raised a hand. A contemptuous flick of her hand later, the missile, and the three following it, winked out of existence from the skies, their contrails a bare mark against dark blue.

The Unicore sped off at a gallop over the waters of the Hudson Bay, the mythical creature easily cresting the waves with contemptuous gallops, and Michiru's war-whoops echoed that of the cries of many as missiles continued, ever-fixed on their trajectory, but in various cities around the Canadian country.

An hour later, a Stealth Bird drifted down. "They wish for an audience with you, My Queen."

"Give them the time, place, and assign someone to tell them of the etiquette. Make sure they understand their place."

"Of course." The Bird paused. "Raiho sends word. That... the Kurosagi girl is within the Spirit worlds."

"Wait till Orion-niisan and the rest of them follow. Then close the doors, restrict travel until I have ordered otherwise."

"My Queen, what of King Summer?"

"He will give them the means by which Winter shall die," Setsuka bitterly answered. "There is nothing he can do, now that the equinox has passed. Well? Go."

"Of course." it took to the skies, post-haste and shivering.

For a time after that, Setsuka just sat there, alone and watching the waves. "Is this sentiment...? What an ugly emotion."

* * *

_Borders of Ghostrick House and Doll House, on the edge of the Madolche Château,  
Duel Monsters Spirit World_

Nikki flinched as she appeared in a shower of sparks, the smooth dark spiral of jewel she had found beside _that card_ hanging from her hand on its leather thong, its magic spent for the time being.

The silvery snowflake within its smooth interior glimmered in the little light there was, a silent mockery of whose magic she had used to arrive here. She stood on the edge of two monolithic houses and their grounds. A gibbous moon hung overhead, swelling with an energy Nikki had never felt with the moon of the real world. Then again, the human world did not have three moons in their primary colours.

"Someone would have known of us," Cologne murmured. She stood, solid and secure in her own world. "They will come. We must get to the Doll House."

"Doll House?" Nikki echoed numbly. "So... we are in your world, Cologne?"

"Yes," Cologne's foot tapped the ground. "Follow me."

"What is this jewel?" Nikki asked.

"Duel Spirits use that to travel freely between dimensions," Cologne answered. "To clarify, most spirits can freely travel between the human world and their own dimension, but cannot travel between worlds. There are special messengers who can travel freely between dimensions, but not many. Of course, with the rise of the Courts, members of the Courts gained the power to freely travel between realms with the auspices of the rulers."

"A passport?" Nikki asked, following Cologne as their path took them into a glade of trees.

"I suppose." Cologne pondered, her walk quiet yet swift. "These passports do not guarantee our safety, though. Especially between the House of Ghostrick and the House of Madolche, the situation is especially tense for my kingdom. Run."

"What?" Nikki started as an owl hooted in the lonely night. "Why? Are there monsters?"

"The Ghostrick tribe are especially active at this time," Cologne muttered. "Jumping and scaring- you'll see."

Haunting music played out across the night, and Nikki listened hard for lyrics that did not appear. "Is that... that sounds _strange_. The Ghostrick, and the Madolche... those are Duel Monsters archetypes, right?"

"For a given value, yes..." Cologne agreed. "Neither are particularly good, or bad. I've met the Madolche Queen, she's funny, but she's getting on. And with the Ghostrick House's master as he is, I'm not sure whether the two Houses could clash or not."

Nikki shook her head in confusion as the two of them ran. "I'm confused about your politics. But, about Win-"

"Not here," Cologne shushed her. "Wait till we get to the Doll House-" She stopped, and abruptly Nikki barrelled into her back.

"What's with that?!" Nikki complained. Just as she spoke, the trees shifted as one.

"_Food... food..._" one hissed, and Nikki jumped as mandibles appeared by her side. "_Don't you agree, sisters?_"

"AHH!"

"No!" Cologne reached out, stopping Nikki from falling into a shallow pit which, on closer looks for anyone with a stronger stomach, contained more mandibles and a giant hungry insect.

"_So hungry..._"

"Don't stumble there either," Cologne instructed. "Not if you want to live, anyway. And since I saved your life, you owe me."

"Yeah," Nikki panted, trying not to move.

"_Our prey is intelligent, sisters. What should we do?_"

"_Better tell the General._ _He's here, anyway._"

"What do we have here, misses?"

Nikki flinched in the middle of that forest, jumping for the third time as she whirled towards the third voice.

A will o' wisp glittered in the clearing that Nikki found herself in. It lit Cologne, Nikki, and a long, male face, with the thin eyebrows and eyes that characterised most Asian faces. The man had curiously pale skin, framed by thick black locks that hung smooth like a geisha's hairdo from under his hexagonal tasselled cloth cap. His exact looks did not draw Nikki's attention, so much as the colours of his robe; light blue with whites, a blue fan hanging by his belt, and all with a stylised sigil of the snowflake of Winter.

"The General of the Ice Barrier, Raiho," Cologne stepped back. "You... why is a leader of Winter's forces here?!"

"He's part of Winter?" Nikki whispered.

"Indeed." Raiho nodded. "I am a General of the Ice Barrier, under the aegis of Her Imperial Majesty, Queen of Winter, Chatelaine of Lia Fáil, Empress of the Ice Barrier."

"So you're one of her minions," Nikki stood with her legs spread, the better to stand stable as she glared at Raiho.

"I fail to comprehend," Raiho answered. "I am her general. I see that you are human, and that you hold a grudge against my Queen."

"You're damn right," Nikki snarled.

"Still, for one of her generals to be here..." Cologne's hands came up in a defensive stance. "What are you intending, General Raiho?"

"My eldest brother Grunard, brigadier-general of Her Majesty's Army, holds siege over the Madolche," Raiho answered. "My second brother Gantala serves alongside Her Majesty this night. I am here on the auspices of the Ghostrick, our allies."

"The Ghostrick allied with Winter..." Cologne hissed.

"And your Doll House lies between the territories of the Château and the House," Raiho nodded. "Your House chose to abstain, particularly your advisor."

"At least the old fogey's bark is up to it," Cologne muttered. "You threaten me."

"It is well known that you hold the Box," Raiho answered. "I have been issued no further instructions. I would therefore have to kill you to present the Box to my Queen."

"Just nice," Nikki's DuelDisk slid open. "I didn't come here empty-handed to kill your Queen."

Raiho's eyes narrowed, before his fan clicked open and slid on brocaded sleeves, revealing a unique DuelDisk. "If you hold malevolent intentions towards my Queen... then I will remove you immediately."

"Duel!"

Nikki: LP 8000

Raiho: LP 8000

"What are you doing?" Cologne protested. "That's one of her generals!"

"Just nice!" Nikki retorted. "I'll remove him on my way! I'll begin, draw!"

"I do not particularly care," Raiho dismissed, patiently waiting.

"I'll set a monster and a card, turn end." Nikki declared.

"So it is my turn," Raiho drew. "I play the Continuous Spell, Level Limit – Area B. All level four or higher monsters take attack position."

"Level Limit – Area B?" Nikki echoed as the field was crossed with red lines.

"Yes," Raiho nodded. "With that, I summon Skystarray [600/300] in attack mode."

"What's with that?" Nikki muttered as the grinning bottle-green manta ray floated onto the field.

"I open my battle phase," Raiho murmured. "Skystarray, attack directly."

Nikki: LP 8000 → LP 7400

Raiho: LP 8000

"What was that?!" Nikki winced from where the manta ray had struck her, bypassing her monster to get to her alone.

"Skystarray is a monster capable of attacking directly," Raiho explained. "Of course, it is banished during the end of my battle phase, to return during the standby phase. And if a monster I control that belongs to either Aqua, Fish or Sea Serpent Types are banished, I can special summon Wingtortoise [1500/1400] from either my hand or my graveyard. I choose to summon it in defence position."

Nikki glared at the stony winged tortoise that appeared.

"I set a card, turn end," Raiho serenely declared.

"Draw," Nikki called. "I flip-summon Gem-Turtle [0/2000] to take Gem-Knight Fusion from my deck and add it to my hand. Turn end."

"I draw," Raiho declared. "Standby phase, Skystarray returns to the field. I summon Drill Barnacle [300/0] to the field. Battle phase opens. Drill Barnacle, attack directly."

Nikki flinched as the barnacle's drills hit her.

Nikki: LP 7400 → LP 7100

Raiho: LP 8000

"Skystarray, attack directly." Raiho's declaration rung hollow compared to Nikki's scream of pain.

Nikki: LP 7100 → LP 6500

Raiho: LP 8000

"When Drill Barnacle inflicts battle damage via its effect to attack directly, it gains one thousand attack power," Raiho declared [300/0 → 1300/0]. "When the battle phase ends, Skystarray is banished until my next standby phase. I set another card, turn end."

"Draw!" Nikki called. "That Drill Barnacle..."

"...is the most threatening thing on the field right now," Cologne agreed.

"That's right. I summon Gem-Knight Amber [1600/1400]!" The yellow monster flashed onto the field. "It might not be much, but I construct the overlay network with Gem-Turtle and Amber! Exceed summon, Gem-Knight Pearl!"

Pearlescent baubles glittered as the monster appeared onto the field [2600/1900].

"Since Exceed monsters don't have levels, your Level Limit card doesn't affect Pearl!" Nikki declared in triumph. "Pearl, attack Drill Barnacle!"

"Continuous Trap, Forgotten Temple of the Deep," Raiho defended. "Once per turn, during either player's turn, I can choose one Fish-, Aqua-, or Sea Serpent-Type monster on the field to be banished until my next standby phase. I choose Drill Barnacle. Chain Trap card, Underworld Egg Clutch. I add a level four or lower Fish-, Aqua or Sea Serpent-Type monster from my deck to my hand upon the banishment of one such face-up monster on my field. I shall add Airorca to my hand."

"Still, you caused a replay," Nikki growled as Drill Barnacle disappeared. "Pearl, destroy that Wingtortoise!"

The monster was destroyed in a flash of fist, and yet Raiho remained unaffected. "It does not matter."

"I'll set a card. Turn end," Nikki gave a grudging acceptance.

"I draw," Raiho answered. "Drill Barnacle [300/0] and Skystarray returns to the field. I summon Airorca [1400/300] to the field."

"Airorca?" Nikki echoed as the orca with wings appeared on the field.

"By banishing a Fish-, Aqua or Sea Serpent from my hand, such as Spined Gillman, I can destroy one of my opponent's face-up cards," Raiho answered. "I destroy your Pearl. In exchange, my Airorca is also banished until the next standby phase. Wingtortoise, return to my field since your comrade has temporarily gone."

"But then your Skystarray and Drill Barnacle can't activate their direct attack effects," Nikki harshly replied as Wingtortoise reappeared.

"True," Raiho admitted. "Yet, both of them are level three monsters."

"Level... three..." Nikki stepped back.

"I construct the overlay network between these two monsters," Raiho whispered. "Flutter in from thy empty space of life. Exceed summon! Dragon of the empty space, Leviair the Sea Dragon!"

The dragon floated in, its malevolent glare something to behold [1800/1600].

"By detaching one Exceed material, I can special summon a level four or lower banished monster," Raiho announced. "I summon Spined Gillman [1300/0], who grants all monsters of Fish, Aqua or Sea Serpent persuasion a four hundred attack power grant."

Nikki glowered as the trident-bearing mutant monster appeared [1300/0 → 1700/0] [1800/1600 → 2200/1600] [1500/1400 → 1900/1400].

"Leviair... attack," Raiho declared.

"Trap card, A Hero Emerges!" Nikki retaliated, holding up her hand.

"Then, I choose the middle card," Raiho answered.

"Special summon, Box of Friends [0/0]!" Nikki defended.

"So that is the infamous Box of the Doll House," Raiho nodded. "Destroy it, Leviair!"

"Your loss," Nikki pronounced as Leviair's attack struck. "Because when it's destroyed, I can special summon Gem-Knight Garnet [1900/0] and Gem-Knight Sapphire [0/2100] in defence mode!"

"Spined Gillman, attack Gem-Knight Garnet!" Raiho called in retaliation. "I enter main phase two. I construct the overlay network with Wingtortoise and Spined Gillman! Exceed summon! Come, Submersible Carrier Aero Shark!"

The two sharks floated onto the field, baring its teeth [1900/1000].

"I detach one material, allowing me to inflict one hundred damage for every banished monster I have," Raiho declared. "I have Airorca and Skystarray, hence you take two hundred damage!"

Nikki: LP 6500 → LP 6300

Raiho: LP 8000

"Strong..." Nikki gasped, coughing as the smoke wafted away from the twin-shark submarine's missiles. "So this is her general's strength."

"You can tell he's holding back," Cologne answered her, eyes focused on the field. "For one thing, he has yet to use his own archetype's deck."

"Our Queen is the only one free to use the deck of our tribe," Raiho answered. "Upon my pride as a general of Winter, I will not allow you to take our Queen from us."

"With that standard, you could be champion in our world," Nikki argued. "I don't want to kill if it's not necessary. I hold only a grudge against Shimotsuki Setsuka!"

"You have declared your intention to kill my Queen," Raiho snapped in reply. "You do not know how many Queens I have seen die. You do not know the pain of a retainer, who has to see his monarch die time and again for _your_ world. Now, you come here, in Winter's power, to kill its Queen and my monarch! That makes our Duel _necessary._"

A lone wind howled with his words. A shiver of the trees echoed them. Raiho's robes stopped billowing as the winds died, and the man himself exhaled a long breath.

"I declare turn end," his voice became a monotone.

"D- Draw!" a clearly shaken Nikki called. "I- I activate Call of the Haunted, to revive Gem-Knight Garnet."

"The opponent has two Exceed monsters," Cologne observed. "One to combo with the currently removed Airorca. The other to inflict damage in case battle damage cannot be inflicted. In short, we need a card to stall for time."

"Stall?" Nikki muttered, mostly to herself.

"If we cannot stall for time, the opponent will continue chipping away at our life points," Cologne answered. "The effect of Box of Friends will also wear off come your end phase."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Nikki answered. "Garnet... Sapphire..."

"What would you usually do with these?" Cologne enquired.

"Huh? They're both normal monsters... level four... Exceed?"

"Wrong. This is a Gem-Knight deck. You hold a Gem-Armadillo and its signature Spell, Gem-Knight Fusion. Your opponent restricts high-level monsters from attacking... but their effects are unrestricted."

"I see..." Nikki swallowed. "I activate the Spell, Gem-Knight Fusion! I fuse Garnet and Sapphire! Sapphire aqua, your power over the waves is commanded. Come, Gem-Knight Aquamarine!"

Cobalt flecks coloured the armour of the newest Gem-Knight monster, despite the cool blue of his armour. [1400/2600].

"Next, I banish Sapphire in the graveyard to get back Gem-Knight Fusion," Nikki declared. "I summon Gem-Armadillo [1700/900] and with its effect, I retrieve Gem-Knight Obsidian. I activate Gem-Knight Fusion to fuse Gem-Knight Aquamarine with the Gem-Knight Obsidian in my hand! Violet amethyst, your comrades fallen, raise the shield of hurricanes to bring the battle forth! Arise, Gem-Knight Amethyst!"

The Gem-Knight bore sword and shield [1950/2450], holding his sword ready to clash.

"I activate the effect of Aquamarine; when he's gone from the field, I can bounce one card," Nikki called. "Your Level Limit – Area B is gone. And the effect of Obsidian allows me to special summon Garnet to the field. I banish Aquamarine to return Gem-Knight Fusion to my hand, and then... I activate Gem-Knight Fusion a third time. I fuse Gem-Armadillo and Gem-Knight Amethyst! Fake diamond, you are still within the conductors of light. Grace the battlefield, defend in thy name! Come, Gem-Knight Zirconia!"

Gunmetal-grey armour did not shine in any light, but the diamonds on either end of its arms glittered in the weak light [2900/2500].

"When Amethyst is removed from the field, all Set Spells and Traps are returned to their owners' hands," Nikki called.

"I see," Raiho shrugged, uncaring.

"Zirconia, attack that Submersible Carrier!" Nikki shouted, as Zirconia's fists rushed the monster.

"Forgotten Temple of the Deep rescues Aero Shark," Raiho retaliated. "Also, since a Fish-, Aqua or Sea Serpent-Type monster was banished, Wingtortoise will be special summoned in defence mode."

"Then, replay occurs!" Nikki retorted as Zirconia struck down Leviair.

Raiho: LP 8000 → LP 6900

Nikki: LP 6300

Nikki grinned in satisfaction as Garnet's claw next struck the tortoise. "I'll set a card, turn end."

"I draw!" Raiho snapped. "Aero Shark and Airorca returns to my field. I then summon Deep Sea Diva [200/400], whose effect allows me to special summon from my deck Lost Blue Breaker [1400/0]. Tuning, level three Airorca to level two Deep Sea Diva."

"Synchro summon? Crap..." Nikki muttered.

"Lord of the seas and its storms, the tempest arises," Raiho chanted. "Synchro summon! Sea Dragon Lord Gilshinodon!"

With a fierce bellow, the crystalline dragon [2300/1800] appeared, wings outspread.

"I tribute Lost Blue Breaker by its own effect to destroy your set card," Raiho announced. "In that effect, the effect of Gilshinodon activates to change its attack power to three thousand [2300/1800 → 3000/1800]. Then, I construct the overlay network with Aero Shark! Exceed summon, Full Armoured – Black Ray Lancer!"

The monster that appeared seemed to be covered in red armour, and held a lance [2100/600].

"This monster can be Exceed summoned using a Rank Three Water Attribute Exceed monster without Exceed materials," Raiho elaborated. "It also gains two hundred attack power for each material it possesses [2100/600 → 2300/600]. Battle. Gilshinodon, attack Zirconia!"

Its bellow caused a crest of waves that crashed down upon the Gem-Knight.

Nikki: LP 6300 → LP 6200

Raiho: LP 6900

"Black Ray Lancer, destroy that Garnet!" Raiho commanded, as the next Gem-Knight was destroyed.

Nikki: LP 6200 → LP 5800

Raiho: LP 6900

"When Full Armoured – Black Ray Lancer destroys a monster by battle, I can destroy one of my opponent's spell or trap cards," Raiho nodded as Call of the Haunted was destroyed. "I'll also set my card again. Turn end."

"Fast..." Cologne whispered. "To turn the tables so quickly..."

"My turn!" Nikki called. "I activate Monster Reborn to revive Amber. I banish Gem-Knight Obsidian in my graveyard to retrieve Gem-Knight Fusion. I summon Amber, activating its Gemini effect; by discarding Gem-Knight Lazuli from my hand, I retrieve the banished Obsidian. The effect of Lazuli allows me to add Garnet from the graveyard to my hand. I'll activate Gem-Knight Fusion, fusing Garnet and Obsidian! King of the jewels, the red sapphire. Shine, the red light of destruction! Come, Gem-Knight Ruby!"

With a yell and a mighty swing of its scythe, the cloaked monster appeared on the field [2500/1300].

"The effect of Obsidian revives Garnet," Nikki called. "And with the effect of Ruby, I tribute Garnet to add its attack power to Ruby! Ruby Coalescence!"

Ruby glowed [2500/1300 → 4400/1300], its scythe gleaming as Nikki pointed. "Ruby, destroy that Gilshinodon!"

"Trap card, Poseidon Wave!" Raiho defended. "I negate your attack, and also inflict eight hundred damage to you for every Fish-, Aqua- or Sea Serpent-Type monster I control! I only have Gilshinodon, so you'll take eight hundred damage!"

Nikki: LP 5800 → LP 5000

Raiho: LP 6900

Nikki stumbled back. "How...? How can he negate all my moves...? I... I... end."

"Draw!" Raiho snapped. "I activate Level Limit – Area B. I play Aurora Draw, allowing me to draw two cards if Aurora Draw was the only card in my hand. I activate Surface, allowing me to revive Airorca. Using its effect, I banish Golden Flying Fish from my hand to destroy your Gem-Knight, and my monster is banished as well. Entering battle phase; Black Ray Lancer, direct attack!"

Nikki flinched as the attack descended.

Nikki: LP 5000 → LP 2900

Raiho: LP 6900

"I'll then set another card," the General declared. "Turn end."

"Draw!" Nikki called.

"That Level Limit – Area B protects his monsters," Cologne murmured. "Right now, the odds are against us."

"Then what?" Nikki testily muttered.

Cologne reconsidered the field. "If... If I am summoned to the field... Box of Friends would be revived. That monster would be forced to deal with successive waves of monsters first before getting to me. That isn't a viable long-term option, but it's a start."

"You made a contract, Princess Cologne?" Raiho murmured. "Unusual. And so trusting. Duelist, has she told you what she wants from you?"

"To save her kingdom," Nikki fiercely replied. "From you!"

"From me?" Raiho shook his head. "To save her kingdom, it means to place her kingdom at the top. To do that, and fulfil your revenge, you must kill the Winter Queen."

"That's what I'm out to do. Quit screwing with me!" Nikki screamed.

"But there you are wrong," Raiho answered. "Her Majesty is the Winter Queen, as she was born with the soul of Queen Maeve. But, upon her assassination, the mantle of He Majesty's power flows towards the nearest vessel of the spirits, the closest contractor within her presence, and that contractor will be imbued with the overwhelming power and cruelty of the Winter Queen. Within ten of your mortal years, there will be no difference between the current Winter Queen, and the future Winter Queen."

An elegant hand rose. "In short... even if you succeed, by our rules, _you_ will be the next Winter Queen. Within ten years, maybe more, maybe less... there will be no difference between her, and _you_. You will become the very monster you sought to destroy. Cologne will have her wish then; as the kingdom of the Queen's majordomo and contractor, the Doll House would enjoy unprecedented protection. All with the cost of your moral soul."

"No..." Nikki whispered. "No... Cologne... this isn't true... right?"

"I... I don't know," Cologne admitted. "I thought... I thought that... Maeve and Titania managed to die. Successive rulers... born and dead again... I thought that it was a cycle of reincarnation. I thought that if you succeeded in killing her, no matter how temporary, you could save my kingdom from the threat of war. I never thought about it like that."

"We are all foolish," Raiho admitted. "But, I admit that His Highness Dewloren did the right thing in contracting Her Majesty. We didn't even know that she was the one with Maeve's soul, until she showed her overwhelming power, her will... her everything. She gave us herself, and in exchange she gained the ultimate power of Winter, the power that she was already due."

Raiho smiled. "Truly, Her Majesty is great; great enough to destroy your human world as it is due."

"I..." a choked sob issued forth from cracked, worried lips. "I set a card. Turn end."

"My turn, draw," Raiho observed. "Airorca returns to my field, and I move it to attack position. I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your set card. Black Ray Lancer, direct attack."

Nikki: LP 2900 → LP 800

Raiho: LP 6900

"This is finished." Raiho raised his arm. "Airorca, direct attack!"

_I couldn't do it, _Nikki thought as the scream of victory came. _Ayame-neesan... Kannazuki-sempai... I couldn't do it. When I think about what he said, how the Winter Queen changes... then could she be trapped? Could it be that the curse of the Winter Queen isn't her fault? I... I couldn't succeed anyway-_

The orca roared, but halfway through the roar turned into a terrified scream as the orca met a bloody death from sharks that swooped out of mid-air to stab at it.

"Made it!"

* * *

_War Room (Communications Sphere), 43__rd__ Floor,  
Headquarters of the Arcadia Movement, New Orleans chapter,  
Floor 1-44 Babel Tower, Canal Street, New Orleans,  
Louisiana, United States of America  
28 October 20XX (-8:00 GMT)_

"Why me, God?" Kaname Ishihara mumbled, sinking into a chair after six hours on her feet, throughout the morning and the night.

Despite the wonders of teleconferencing, Kaname had had to coordinate with the New York Arcadians to negotiate jointly with the Pentagon about Setsuka Shimotsuki. Scepticism had lasted, despite Shimotsuki's reputation amongst the top brass of the Department of Defence. It lasted until the first missile reports came in. Kaname felt that she really shouldn't have felt glad that about five major cities along the US-Canada border held the brunt of the damage, despite that it made any soldier take very wary considerations towards the threat of Setsuka Shimotsuki.

_Why, Shimotsuki-san? _Was the question she really wanted to ask, but the name had been taboo since the woman disappeared, only to reappear as a defected Psychic. Who appeared to have lost none of her skills during the years of her disappearance; Kaname had seen the reports of Iqaluit and Alexianna's own reports. The French Psychic Duelist was currently attempting to cross the Northwest Territories and station herself in Ottawa.

Not that she'll make it in time, Kaname reflected, glaring at the maps. Whether or not the news of Michiru Tenjouin in the Northwest Territories was a fluke or a coincidence, it waylaid one key Psychic across the Rockies while the Winter forces made a pincer through the Queen Elizabeth Islands and Quebec. A move that capitalised on the ability of Duel Spirits to ignore human terrain, to great effect.

"Does the climate offer an advantage?" Kaname mumbled to herself. "What about supplies? Are there other camps from Ellesmere Island?"

"Nee-chan?" Takeshi lingered outside of the room. In both hands, each held a mug of steaming drink. "You haven't slept."

"There's no time," Kaname mumbled. "At least I wasn't unprepared."

"It's sometimes creepy, how fast the Arcadia Movement can move," Takeshi commented.

"There's a lot of things you don't know, little brother," Kaname advised. Her teeth clicked shut at the look on Takeshi's face. _Shouldn't have brought it up..._

"Is there news from Lex- I mean, Angel?" Takeshi asked.

"The Northwest Territories was abandoned when she got there," Kaname answered. "We have a weakened Psychic in the buck-ass end of Canada while its capital might be facing a severe enclosure rather quickly. What about Ichiro and Mu?"

"Priestess? Still grieving," Takeshi started on Mu. "And Clockwork... is the usual. Just that his work ethic seems to have trebled. Also, the complaints desk was flooded with requests to go over to Canada."

"Help us or help her?" Kaname's suspicion was aroused.

Takeshi shifted away from her stare. "You followed her."

"I did," Kaname gravely answered. "According to you, I turned cold, I started believing only in power, and from pushing you to do your best I made sure to tread down on where it hurts at every opportunity."

"I was right," Takeshi pointed out.

"So you were." Kaname bit back.

"Nee-chan, you have to realise-" Takeshi stopped, before, in a slower tone, "that you are not alone in this."

"I have no idea how Merci ever did this, or Justin," Kaname whispered. "Or even _her_. The lives of Louisiana's Psychic community, and that of the US south and west, depends on Babel Tower. That's about fifteen thousand people. The worst part is? I see Shinobi, and all of those Psychic Duelists younger than me fighting and risking their lives against the greatest threat of the Arcadia Movement, the very Cold Queen who made the Arcadia Movement, and I see what she must have faced, maybe less; because nothing can match her workload or stress. I see what we could be without Babel Tower, La Castle, the Statue, the Frigate, the Bastille... without the Arcadia Movement."

"Nee-chan?" Takeshi hissed as Kaname's head made a gentle thump on the nearest flat surface; her desk. "You're scaring me. What?"

"Angry and bitter at the world, and just wanting to destroy it _all_." Kaname's voice issued from her lips in a broken sob. "You thought I was bitter and cynical, Takeshi... it's hard, being a Mill Duelist in a world where even the slightest mistake could land you in the hospital. I saw Class I, Class II, Duelists who have done nothing wrong but make a single spark with their powers, they get wheeled into the infirmary and sometimes with their families. 'They prey on the weak.' 'The Movement holds no obligation towards them.' 'It's a question of _resources_.' Some... some just retreat. Some never want to leave the Towers. I don't want to do that, Takeshi..."

"Nee-chan...?" Takeshi sat next to her, rubbing soothing circles on the small of her back. "Nee-chan... you couldn't have told me? That... that they coerce you into thinking like that?"

"You d- don't understand," Kaname snivelled. "See? You _still_ don't. I know more than you think; I know that you feel weak, useless, powerless against Alexianna, against Psychics. You don't know what it's like to hold that power and still feel powerless, and very aware of your inability. I can tell you, as a Psychic Duelist, as one who has to struggle to raise her power, that the burden of power on Alexianna and I holds much sway. What she promised, for a time, was _more_ than power. Safety. Companionship."

Here Kaname leaned forward, the ghost of her words a phantom caress on Takeshi's ears before alarms went off:

"_Oblivion_."

* * *

_**Please review!**_


	8. VII: Fragment Fusion

_**Grisaille Gaol**_

* * *

**VII: Fragment Fusion**

_Winter camp, shore of Mansel Island,  
Hudson Bay, Canada,  
29 October 20XX (-8:00 GMT)_

The surface of the pool lay calm and flat, nearly a mirror. Small waves lap on the sides of the pool, and Setsuka frowned as the crystalline sides flash from reflected light once more.

She let go. The crystal smashes onto the ground, water spilling out only to become frost. The crystal melts, ice changing to water in an instant.

"Numbers one, two and five in the spirit world," Setsuka muttered. "Number four in Orleans. Numbers three with me. Number seven with Summer. The only one left... is number six." A wave of her hand, and the ermine muff disappeared, replaced with flowing white cut-off sleeves that exposed her shoulders but covered her arms. Her leggings changed into a skirt, dark blue that contrasted with the long-sleeved tank top she wore, and her calves covered with striped blue and white stockings that ended in blue brogues. She took a step.

The Winter Queen looked up as the rotors of a helicopter's _thwip-thwip-thwip _resounded in the skies overhead. Seconds later, a white projectile dropped from above, metres away from Setsuka. The helicopter immediately flew into the distance, evading the swarm of Duel Monsters that started to chase after it.

"Wheel of Fortune, Phoenix Whirlwind model," Setsuka recognised the wheel-shaped hub of the D-Wheel. "Jack Atlas."

Its white-clothed rider dismounted, taking off his helmet to face Setsuka. Despite the age and height difference, the World King of Riding Duels and the Queen of Air and Darkness faced each other as equals.

"Shimotsuki Setsuka," Jack answered evenly. "Or should I say, the Cold Queen? The Ice Queen? The Winter Queen?"

"All of them are fine," Setsuka answered. "You have no need to know of my name. Yet, I do not know what brings the World King here, of all places. Perhaps you intend to martyr yourself in the cause of humanity?"

A particularly strong gale blew, buffeting at Jack, who simply stood through the winds to glare through violet eyes at her.

"Your son's eyes are grey," Setsuka commented. "But he has your face. Your daughter, though... she has your eyes."

"You're not saying about the missus?" Jack wryly added.

"There is nothing to be said," Setsuka replied. "Either she knows, at which she is prepared to mourn, or she does not know, which means that her mourning shall be all the more heartfelt for it. The involvement of Carly Nagisa into the affairs of spirits ended with the end of the Signers and Dark Signers. The Crimson Dragon has abandoned its champions. Fudo Yusei and Izayoi Aki do not remember the reason they have to fight me. Crow Hogan has lost against my champion time and again. Rua and Ruka are dead, and with them most of Summer's ties to the mortal world. The outcome has yet to change."

"It will change when I win," Jack affirmed, producing his DuelDisk from the dashboard of the Phoenix Whirlwind. "You're right. The outcome has yet to change, because, for some reason, Yusei took in the child of a witch nearly twelve years ago. The woman who openly called herself a witch, who claimed magical powers, and who stunned Neo Domino time and again... you are her legacy; the curse of Diana Hunter."

"If I am her curse, then what would you called Ryuusei Fudo?"

"Ryuusei has nothing to do with this!" Jack snapped.

"On the contrary," Setsuka's reply chilled to the bone. "After all, it was Ryuusei, your godson, who erased the memory of his parents. The reason why the King of Riding Duels and the Black Rose Witch cannot fight is because they do not remember. That, and the deaths of the twins, means that only Crow Hogan and you are left. Signers, relics of an era long gone... if you persist in my way, let me grant you release."

"You, prepare to fall," Jack threatened.

"Duel!"

Setsuka: LP 8000

Jack: LP 8000

"I will begin," Setsuka whispered. "Draw. I set a monster and a card. Turn end."

"Defensive moves? Weak," Jack scoffed. "My turn, draw!" he glanced from the card to the field. "Your misfortune in this life would be to face me. When my opponent controls a monster, I can special summon Vice Dragon from my hand at the cost of halving its attack and defence power [2000/2400 → 1000/1200]."

"I see," Setsuka plainly replied as the maroon dragon appeared, ragged and worn.

"Then, I summon Dark Resonator [1300/300]," Jack demanded as the cackling imp bearing a tuning fork and hammer appeared, smashing them madly. "Tuning, level five Vice Dragon to level three Dark Resonator!The ruler's heartbeats will now file through here! Take witness to its creation-shaking power! Synchro Summon! My very soul, Red Demon's Dragon!"

A grand fireball erupted upon the field. Pure power flooded the tundra of Mansel island. The temperature climbed from freezing to hot in ten seconds, steam rising from the snow as it arose.

The dragon was horned. It was more muscled than any other dragon, the largest of the Signer Dragons. Heavier than Stardust. Wider than Ancient Fairy. The reverse colours of Black Rose. More solid than Black Feather. More powerful than any of them. The ace monster of the World King, Jack Atlas... and one of the five legendary dragons that once saved the world, the Red Demon's Dragon [3000/2000].

It opened a lantern-jawed maw, tiny yellow eyes gleaming, baring teeth that were really too sharp to be comfortable, and let loose a single bellow that sent birds scattering from above the island. A wave crashed onto shore.

Setsuka looked unaffected.

"Battle!" Jack ordered. "Red Demon's Dragon, attack that monster! Absolute Powerforce!"

The fiery fist that the dragon let loose was barely defended by a lone armoured penguin, and yet Jack blanched.

"Penguin Soldier [750/500]," Setsuka announced. "This monster has a flip effect. It can choose two monsters on the field, and return them to the hand. There is only one monster on the field... return, Red Demon's Dragon."

The dragon bellowed, but the magic was compelling enough to force its disappearance from the field.

"I'll set a card, turn end," Jack stiffly retaliated.

"My turn, draw," Setsuka announced. "I activate the Spell, Medallion of the Ice Barrier, to search for Prior of the Ice Barrier to add from my deck to my hand. I'll summon Defender of the Ice Barrier [200/1600]."

Armoured tail bristling, the fairly canine creature with brown-white fur that appeared, bearing the standard of the Ice Barrier upon its armour as it growled.

"By its own effect, I also special summon Prior of the Ice Barrier [1000/400] by its own effect from my hand," Setsuka murmured. "Battle. Prior, attack him directly!"

"Trap card, Revival Gift!" Jack countered. "For the revival of a tuner such as Dark Resonator, I can special summon two level three Gift Fiend Tokens [1500/1500] to your side of the field."

Setsuka glared as the two blobs appeared on her field, followed by the cackling imp bearing the tuning fork. "Replay. Stop, Prior. I declare turn end."

"My turn, draw!" Jack called. "I discard Barrier Resonator from my hand to special summon Power Giant [2200/0] as a level five monster. Tuning, level five Power Giant to level three Dark Resonator! The ruler's heartbeats will now file through here! Take witness to its creation-shaking power! Synchro Summon! My very soul, Red Demon's Dragon!"

The dragon appeared, bellowing, but then lines appeared in the ice, trapping it.

"What?" Jack sputtered.

"The effect of the Ice Barrier's Defender," Setsuka elaborated, as the armoured canine bowed to her. "You see, when another of the Ice Barrier is on the field, Defender prevents monsters my opponent controls with attack power higher than its own defence power from declaring an attack."

"Lockdown tactics?" Jack frowned, but lightly. "I activate Red Dragon Vase, allowing me to draw two cards when Red Demon's Dragon is on the field. Turn end."

"My turn, draw," Setsuka declared. "I discard from my hand General Gantala of the Ice Barrier and Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls to mill General Grunard of the Ice Barrier into the graveyard. You should be pleased."

"Pleased?" Jack asked. "It's just the start of the Duel. While you've defended yourself, Red Demon's Dragon will reach you sooner or later."

"Shall we see?" Setsuka murmured. "You have yet to face one of Winter's strongest creatures. Perhaps you do not remember. The Ice Barrier has three dragons."

"No way, that one?" Jack glanced from the field to Setsuka with no small amount of horror. "That cursed card?"

"I am the mistress of the dragons," Setsuka's teeth clicked as ice itself seemed to freeze over some more in her presence. "Tuning, two level three Gift Fiend Tokens to level three Defender."

The roar shook even the foundations as the tuner dissolved into Synchro rings and circled the two monsters.

"Trident of the cold death, the swing of the pendulum is ever frozen," she called as icy winds gathered around her, her lips turning blue with cold. "May the three thousand worlds linger forever in winter! Synchro Summon! Touch the three worlds, Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!"

There, right in front of them, rising from the Synchro rings, was an enormous monstrosity. The creature was almost serpentine, its long tail partially visible compared to its great size. It had a pair of short limbs that ended in enormous claws, and three triangular, snake-like heads, with a pair of wide, wide leathery wings. The monster was a solid silver-blue scaled creature, like a creature made from the very ice itself. Its power was incredible, a palpable force, power beyond anything else a human could comprehend. Seeing that power was like seeing the grind of the glacier bringing death directly to the doorstep.

The icy maw cracked open, and a thunderous roar tore through from a clearly inhuman throat [2700/2000].

"When Trishula is Synchro Summoned, its effect triggers, causing one card to be banished from my opponent's hand, field and grave," Setsuka declared, her eyes wide. "Three World Spear!"

Red Demon's Dragon bellowed as the dark ice covered it. Within Jack's hand, Battle Fader was banished, covered with ice. Within the graveyard, the sleeping Dark Resonator disappeared into nothingness, following Red Demon's Dragon.

"I shall tribute Prior to revive General Gantala of the Ice Barrier [2700/2000]," Setsuka waved as the shirtless general appeared. "Next, I activate Call of the Haunted to revive General Grunard of the Ice Barrier [2800/1000]."

"Those monsters..." Jack mouthed as the heavily armoured general appeared. "Total power, eighty-two hundred..."

"Gantala, Grunard," Setsuka ordered. "Give this Signer the hospitality he is due."

"_Yes, my Queen!_"

Jack grunted as the blows landed, and he flew back into a snowdrift.

Jack: LP 8000 → LP 2500

Setsuka: LP 8000

"Please rest, Jack Atlas," Jack heard as Setsuka loomed over the tall, defeated Duelist. "You won't curse anyone. You won't torment anyone. Your destiny is finished... it is time for oblivion."

Violet eyes widened as Jack found himself floating, light gathering around the three maws of Trishula as the monster loomed. "Curse? Torment?"

"Pitiful remnant of a fight long over, a fight of destiny in which you were never meant to survive..." Setsuka's arm raised. "Not knowing what to do with that life, not knowing the direction in which you wish your life to be... you and I are the same, Jack Atlas. You and I have nowhere else to go.

"Trishula... attack."

Until the end, Jack Atlas died with his eyes wide open, to face his death as no one expected.

Jack: LP 2500 → LP 0

Setsuka: LP 8000

The holographic projections disappeared; the power that gave them physical form was gone. Only the Defender remained, the canine whining as Setsuka reached for a rapidly cooling and hardening corpse wrapped in his own burial shroud.

"I know, Bernard," Setsuka murmured as she tugged at the corpse. "Even so, a hero deserves to be returned to his family."

This pacified the guardian spirit somewhat, as it held still as the body was strapped to its armoured back. It followed behind her as the Winter Queen took a step forward.

The world shifted around Winter's Queen, and soon enough the Winter Queen had disappeared off of the shore of Mansel Island and onto asphalt. In a moment, she had travelled across the world.

Slowly, Setsuka walked down the Star Street that bisected the city of Neo Domino. People walked on either side of her; the chill of winter did not seem to touch them as much, though she was drawing moments of attention. Then again, celebrities walked down Neo Domino's streets on a daily basis.

"This city has yet to change," she faced the spire of the Central Building, the one that housed Neo Domino's City Hall as well as the headquarters of the Neo Domino Police Department. "Neither has this building. Bernard, here."

People were paying attention to her now, and some of them had the good sense to run away, either towards the police building or the Arcadia Movement. Most just stared, stunned, as the body of Jack Atlas was laid onto the ground of Neo Domino, arranged with his eyes closed.

"Please stay back, we'll take care of this." The crowd parted.

Previously closed, Setsuka's eyes opened to consider the balding man.

Blues had replaced the grey uniforms of the old Public Security Maintenance Bureau era, but a uniform was a uniform no matter the cutting. The policeman wearing it was tall and muscular, tanned skin peeking out from where the uniform did not cover. Short thin black bristles covered a wide head, matched by an equally bristly moustache.

"Shimotsuki Setsuka," he spoke to her, causing a breakout of murmurs and terrified whimpers.

"Duel Crimes Unit, I take it," Setsuka began.

The man took a cautionary step back, clearly not underestimating the woman who terrified the Daimon Area into something resembling civility within two years. "So you're the ice queen. Or you used to be."

"As far as I know, I am the only ice queen," came the answer, easy and delivered with a small smile.

"Maybe," Akashi cautiously muttered. "And maybe I think you want to surrender. Sergeant Yamamoto Akashi. Know the name of your arresting officer for the murder of Jack Atlas."

"Not so easily, no," Setsuka disagreed. "I could kill you."

"Maybe," Akashi replied, still in the face of a predator. "But I will fight."

"Precisely the reason you continue to live," Setsuka answered. "Or I could kill every single man, woman and child here."

"That just drives me to fight harder," Akashi glared as he produced a foldable red DuelDisk. Sirens were blaring; people were running away, no one wanted to be in the vicinity of a known Psychic Duel.

The body of Jack Atlas, still broken but intact, thudded onto the ground. The Defender growled, and several more of the crowd dissipated before the impending fight.

"I do not suffer fools." A breeze blew past Setsuka, her coat's sleeves flaring as she glared at Akashi as she conjured her crystalline DuelDisk. "Such is the way of Winter."

"I challenge you anyway," the Sergeant answered.

"Duel!"

* * *

_Deep Forest, Borders of Ghostrick House and Doll House,  
Duel Monsters Spirit World_

Blue light dissipated. A long coat of black leather flared out, before sneakers thudded onto leaf-covered ground. This was followed by a pair of hard-wearing shoes and two pairs of running sneakers.

"This is the Deep Forest, the closest place to neutral the Fellowship identified," Chase considered the glowing blue marble gem in his palm, where Winter's sigil glittered.

"If we can find this Fellowship contact, Princeton-san, we can probably trace Nikki," Hazuki commented. "Still, what was that girl thinking...?"

"She might not be thinking," Yukio muttered. "We're talking about an emotionally compromised kid here."

"Either way, Cologne's story means that they'll probably be at this Doll House," Orion pointed out. "Titania, I'll trust you to take her back if we find her. Cold Wolf, Zero, we'll press on afterwards. So, where is our Fellowship contact supposed to meet us?"

"Do I look like I know everything, Hunter?" Chase snapped, squinting up at the three moons of red, blue and yellow overhead. "I've heard of it, doesn't mean that I've been here. Usually when I deal with spirits, I don't go charging straight into the dragon's lair."

"Enough, please," Hazuki pleaded. "Princeton-san?"

"Well, if I'm right, Ryuusuke should be headed towards the Doll House," Chase mumbled. "If it's at the borders of the Madolche... oh crap."

"What?" Orion followed his gaze to the distance, where a large hound was loping towards them.

Chase knelt down as the Infernity Beast approached. "Reply."

The Beast spat out a sleek phone from its maw in answer.

"Eww, spit," the comment seemed perfunctory as Chase absently checked it over. "Short-wave... was it hard, getting there?"

The dog huffed again in reply.

"Really? That's good, lead us there, please." With a rewarding pat, Chase stood back up. "Killer spotted Nikki, she's headed towards Doll House. Or she was."

"Was?" Yukio focused on him.

"Last he saw, Nikki managed to stumble on the Traptrix sisters," Chase answered, breaking into a loping run with the rest of them following. "They're basically Wild, but where they are is took close to the Ghostrick House, which just allied with Winter. If we don't hurry, either she's plant food or she's going to stumble on the Winter troops there."

"It didn't stop?" Hazuki asked.

"Killer can't deal with three monsters by himself," Chase shook his head. "It's actually pretty smart."

The Infernity Beast whined.

"Yes, smarter than me," Chase huffed, shivering as he pulled the coat around him. "Mutt."

They turned right, and Chase paused as they came across a clearing containing a dolmens. "You blew it. This is the Summer-Winter border."

The Beast just barked.

"What did he say?" Yukio asked.

"He said that of course it is," Orion translated. "It's the biggest place. You can't get to anywhere without crossing through at one place or another."

Orion stopped at the looks he was getting. "You're not the only one who's hanging around them, Princeton. Get us out of here."

"Believe me, I don't want to hang here, either," Chase rolled his eyes. "Either we get the Disney version with elves and who knows what sugary cuteness, or we get the wicked witch version, which is considerably more entertaining, but less healthy. Killer?"

The Beast turned mutely towardsthe left of the dolmens, and the group followed it down the path.

"I think we're approaching the Winter part," Chase commented as the foliage went noticeably denser, the trees loomed higher, and the forest was shrouded mostly in darkness. "Any moment, a monster's going to appear, and it's going to be mocking."

They arrived at a larger stand, where Nikki was standing in horror as two Shark monsters rushed at her.

Yukio was the first to react. "Spear Shark!"

The shark appeared, double-bladed sword moulded upon its snout. It charged, impaling the Airorca heading for Nikki and destroying it in a burst of energy. The Airorca moaned, stumbling into the surroundings trees.

"Made it!" Chase gasped.

Its Duelist, a man shrouded in the light blue of Winter, took a fighting stance. "The Queen's potential knight."

"I rejected that application," Chase bit back. "I never submitted it."

To one side, Cologne stood beside Nikki. Nikki herself had sunk to her knees, staring at Raiho in no small amount of horror.

"It is a possibility," Raiho shrugged. "The Queen's disciple. The dog of Exodia. And... a pretender of power."

"Who is he?" Hazuki asked.

"He's one of the Generals of the Ice Barrier," Chase bit back. "The Duel Spirit, General Raiho!"

"Yes, that is the name conferred upon myself by the first Winter Queen," Raiho agreed. "My mission is to protect Winter. Your blood shall feed the soil of Winter."

"S- Strong..." Nikki whimpered softly.

"If you kill Winter, you shall become Winter," Raiho said. "But, it seems no matter for you all, who walk upon Winter's soil without rest."

The gem dangled from Chase's hand. "I have Shimotsuki's mark here."

"Stolen, no doubt," Raiho dismissed. "Traptrix sisters. Your next meal is here."

"_Food? Heard that, Myrmeleo?!_"

Nikki's scream cut off as she jumped away from a set of mandibles. "W- What is that?!"

"_Food, Atrax. I'm so hungry..._"

"_Kazura is hungry, humans..._"

"You have a lot to explain later, Kurosagi," Orion muttered, looking around.

"But, why isn't that guy moving...?" Chase muttered, almost to himself as he glared at an impassive Raiho.

A card flashed in Yukio's hand. "We'll have to kill our way through, then. Spear Shark!"

Giggles burst out as the shark appeared, before a hole burst open, and mandibles reached from within, seized upon the shark and swallowed it whole.

"Nepenthes... Nepenthes, the pitcher plant. Myrmeleo, the antlion. Atrax, the trapdoor spider," Hazuki recited. "Those names are insects and plants that feed upon insects, waiting for unsuspecting prey to stumble upon their nests... I see."

"What?" Chase asked.

"If we assume that Yamada-san's Spear Shark fell to a Trap Hole card... then it makes sense that this entire section of the forest is covered with Trap Holes," Hazuki explained. "The reason why that Winter General has yet to move, is because these cards have a non-discriminatory effect."

"If we can't think rationally, we'd have run out or rushed to attack the General," Orion pieced together, glaring at Raiho. "In short, our own actions would have led to our doom."

Trees rustled. Shadows played out under a blue moon.

"But, should the reasoning be taken further, it means that Raiho isn't on the side of the Traptrix sisters either," Hazuki elaborated, drawing a card. "In short, he is as vulnerable as us here. His own security is as shaky as ours."

"Winter's troops are stationed at the Ghostrick House," Raiho pointed out. "if anything were to happen to I, my brother shall investigate it."

"But you will be dead nevertheless," Hazuki dared, walking over to Nikki and picking her up by the arms. "Cologne, hold her."

"What are you intending?" the blonde Duel Spirit demanded.

"Predators like the Traptrix run when you reveal their true nature," Hazuki's DuelDisk fanned open, like the petals of a flower. "Let us Duel, Traptrix."

Mandibles clicked and an arachnid body climbed out of the shadows, the grinning girl perched upon its back almost vibrating with glee. Mandibles folded and fanned over, a DuelDisk of spider-web stretched between claws growing from the giant spider.

At the same time, the maw of a Venus flytrap grew, and then blonde girl that smiled from within was far more eerie.

"You are brave, nevertheless," the Spirit responded. "I am the oldest of the Traptrix, Atrax."

"I am the third of the sisters. Nepenthes," the blonde girl curtsied.

Yukio stepped up. "Titania."

"Thank you," Hazuki answered. Turning to the two monsters, Hazuki's posture never faltered. "I am Titania of the Arcadia Movement. This man is Cold Wolf. We shall be your opponents. Battle Royale."

"Duel!"

Atrax: LP 8000

Nepenthes: LP 8000

Hazuki: LP 8000

Yukio: LP 8000

"Sister, you go first," Nepenthes offered.

"Yes, sister," Atrax agreed. "I draw. First, I summon myself, Traptrix Atrax [1800/1000] in attack mode."

An exact copy of herself, dressed in gauzy black silk robes, appeared upon the field.

"I shall end here," Atrax licked her lips.

"I will begin, then," Hazuki declared as three cards appeared on her field. "Draw! I set a monster. Then, I shall set three cards and end my turn."

"My turn, draw," Nepenthes declared, her voice like a swallow's lilt. "I summon Koa'ki Meiru Beetle [1900/1500]. With that, I activate the Continuous Spell, Verdant Sanctuary, and I end my turn, revealing Beetron in my hand to maintain Koa'ki Meiru Beetle."

"I will go," Yukio declared. "Draw. I set a monster and a card. Turn end."

"On the defensive already?" Atrax licked her lips. "No matter. I draw! I summon our sister, Traptrix Myrmeleo [1600/1200] to the field."

Wings fanned out, ochre in the red moon as the ant-lion monster appeared, with another girl sitting astride it.

"When she is summoned, I can add one Hole Normal Trap to my hand," Atrax snickered. "I choose Bottomless Trap Hole. Battle! My clone, attack that girl's card!"

"Flip summon, Wall of Ivy [300/1200]," Hazuki defended. "When this card is flip summoned, I can special summon one Ivy Token [0/0] to my opponent's field in defence mode. Chain Continuous Trap card, Rose Flame. When a Plant-Type monster is special summoned to my opponent's field, my opponent takes five hundred damage."

Atrax: LP 8000 → LP 7500

Nepenthes: LP 8000

Hazuki: LP 8000

Yukio: LP 8000

"Even so, your monster is destroyed!" Atrax crowed, batting at the flames that chased the hem of her robes. "Myrmeleo!"

"Continuous Trap, Cursed Ivy," Hazuki called as Wall of Ivy reappeared on her field. "Cursed Ivy will special summon Wall of Ivy to my field in defence mode."

"Sister, destroy that monster!" Atrax snapped, as pincers from the antlion tore the wall apart.

"When Wall of Ivy is removed from the field, Cursed Ivy itself is destroyed," Hazuki called. "And two Ivy Tokens [0/0] appear on your field. The effect of Rose Flame activates; you take five hundred damage."

Atrax: LP 7500 → LP 7000

Nepenthes: LP 8000

Hazuki: LP 8000

Yukio: LP 8000

"That hurts!" Atrax screamed. "Turn end!"

"I draw!" Hazuki called. "I will summon Lonefire Blossom [500/1400]! Next, I tribute Lonefire Blossom to special summon from my deck Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms [2800/1200]!"

"My effect activates, allowing me to activate 'Hole' Trap cards from my hand!" Atrax cackled as the pink flower began to bloom on the field. "I activate Bottomless Trap Hole!"

"Continuous Trap, Adapt to Adversity!" Yukio snapped. "This card prevents all Water Attribute monsters from being destroyed by the effects of Spells or Trap when they are first summoned. Your Bottomless Trap Hole still goes off, but Talaya won't be touched!"

"So... that means that his card protects hers..." Nikki mumbled.

"That woman is the Titania of the Arcadia Movement," Chase answered the unspoken question. "And that man is the Cold Wolf. For two Duelists to be able to team up like this on such short notice..."

"Talaya gains one hundred attack power for every Plant-Type monster I control [2800/1200 → 2900/1200]," Hazuki announced as the smiling princess sashayed. "Talaya, destroy Traptrix Atrax!"

Atrax: LP 7000 → LP 5900

Nepenthes: LP 8000

Hazuki: LP 8000

Yukio: LP 8000

"Turn end," Hazuki panted. "Your ability to activate Traps from your hand is gone."

"My turn, draw!" Nepenthes snarled. "I tribute Beetle to summon Gigaplant [2400/1200]! Gigaplant, attack that boy's set monster!"

Yukio shielded himself as the kneeling magician on his field was destroyed. "Because of Gishki Ariel's flip effect, I add a Gishki monster with less than a thousand defence power to my hand from my deck, such as Gishki Beast."

"I shall set a card and end," Nepenthes sullenly reported.

"Draw!" Yukio called. "I activate the Spell, Raft Party, to special summon two Raft Tokens [0/0] onto the field. I tribute both Raft Tokens to summon Big Whale [1000/3000]. Then, I tribute Big Whale to special summon three level three Water Attribute monsters with their effects negated. Come, three Needle Sunfish!"

Giant fish they were, they lingered, maws gaping open as they floated around.

"I construct the overlay network using two Needle Sunfish!" Yukio barked. "Exceed summon! Arise from the depths of deep blue, Number 47: Nightmare Shark!"

From the overlay network, a blue and white shark shimmered into existence. It had no legs, instead a tail hung behind it. It bore wings on its back, large ones like a stingray's. Its fin protruded between the shoulder blades. Its snout was the shark's one, awkwardly positioned with gills where the cheeks should be. Its arms, which were anatomically incorrect of a shark, and protruding out of a human torso, bore sharp implements [2000/2000].

"Number monsters?" Nikki gasped.

_I construct the overlay network with these two monsters! Exceed summon!_

"When it is special summoned, another level three Water Attribute monster from my hand or my side of the field can be attached as Exceed material," Yukio declared. "I shall attach the last Needle Sunfish."

"My Gigaplant is the more powerful," Nepenthes sniffed.

"If I were attacking you," Yukio flatly replied. "I use the effect of Nightmare Shark; by detaching one Exceed material, I can choose a Water Attribute monster I control, and that monster can attack directly, but only that monster can attack this turn. Of course, I choose Nightmare Shark himself. Nightmare Shark, attack Atrax directly with Jaws from the Deep!"

"Sister!" Atrax hissed.

"Trap card, Lair Wire!" Nepenthes defended.

"Counter Trap; Seven Tools of the Bandit," Hazuki countered. "I pay one thousand life points to negate and destroy Lair Wire!"

"I owe you," Yukio nodded as the Swiss Army knife sliced through the webbing that began to appear around Nightmare Shark. "Go!"

Atrax: LP 5900 → LP 3900

Nepenthes: LP 8000

Hazuki: LP 8000 → LP 7000

Yukio: LP 8000

"I am returning the favour," Hazuki simply answered in the wake of Nightmare Shark's return.

"I'll set a card, turn end," Yukio called.

"Draw!" Atrax screeched. "I see... they're dividing us to conquer. Using the Battle Royale rule to their advantage... I'll set two cards, turn end!"

"My turn, draw," Hazuki called. "I activate Cards from the Blessed Grass. By activating this card, I can special summon Card Plant Tokens equal to the number of times cards were added to my hand this turn, including my draw phase. I drew a card, so I gain a Card Plant Token [0/0]. I tribute this Card Plant Token to summon Rose Tentacles [2200/1200]!"

"Trap card, Trap Hole!" Atrax screeched.

"Too bad," Hazuki retorted as a cloud of cherry blossom petals drifted over the hole that appeared in the ground as the rose-octopus mutant monster appeared, crouching as the head bobbed around a slender stem. "Talaya prevents the destruction by card effects of other Plant-Type monsters I control. Also, since I control another Plant-Type monster, Talaya gains one hundred attack power [2900/1200 → 3000/1200]."

"No..." Atrax gaped.

"At the start of the battle phase, Rose Tentacles gains an additional attack for every Plant-Type monster my opponent controls," Hazuki recited. "Furthermore, when it destroys a Plant-Type monster, my opponent takes three hundred damage."

"That combo was made famous by Aki-sensei..." Chase commented from the sidelines.

"Rose Tentacles, destroy Myrmeleo!" Hazuki ordered as the ant-lion was destroyed with the snap of a stray vine-tentacle.

Atrax: LP 3900 → LP 3300

Nepenthes: LP 8000

Hazuki: LP 7000

Yukio: LP 8000

"Then, Rose Tentacles, destroy those Ivy Tokens!" Hazuki ordered as Rose Tentacles carried out its work in a flurry of snaps and cracks.

"Trap card, Nature's Reflection!" Atrax quickly countered. "Sister!"

"Counter Trap, Sea King's Verdict!" Yukio snapped. "When an opponent activates a Trap card during the battle phase, that card is negated and destroyed!"

A trident penetrated the monolithic shield that appeared, and Atrax cried out as the whips of vines lashed at her.

Atrax: LP 3300 → LP 1500

Nepenthes: LP 8000

Hazuki: LP 7000

Yukio: LP 8000

"Talaya can still attack," Hazuki severely declared. "Scatter Petal!"

"No..." Atrax whispered as the whirlwind of petals approached.

"Atrax!" Nepenthes screamed. "Myrmeleo, now!"

"What are they-" Chase cut off as mandibles appeared on either side of his head, the points resting delicately upon his Adam's apple.

Orion and Cologne dragged Nikki away from the giant insect, staring at it, and its tawny-robed mistress. Yukio's head shifted to consider the enormous brown ant-lion who held Chase hostage. "So they intended to take a hostage all along..."

"Cancel the attack," Nepenthes's voice thinned.

"Cancel it," the rider threatened. "Or Myrmeleo will call her beast to bite your comrade's head off. You humans are afraid of death, right?"

"Humans..." Yukio sighed. "What now, Titania?"

"Princeton-san...!" Nikki whispered, half-stunned. "Himemiya-san...! Cancel the attack! Cologne, can't you do something?"

"That monster is too close," Cologne assessed. "Furthermore, my defensive power is not high enough to allow me to stage an intervention."

"... even though humans are afraid of death, they are still prepared to face it," Chase defended. "Continue, Himemiya!"

"You are mad," Myrmeleo glared, not at him but at the red-haired Duelist. "Well?"

"...Kurosagi-san."

"Y- Yes?" Nikki whispered.

"Remind our leader that the consultant is theoretically under his ultimate responsibility."

"I get it," Orion scowled. "You mean I should have protected him, right? I'm a bit busy here."

"Excuses do not excuse one's responsibility," Hazuki answered. "I refuse. Talaya, continue."

"What- Myrmeleo!" Nepenthes screamed.

"My beast-" the rider was cut off as light swallowed Chase's form, winking out.

A heartbeat later, the brunet was slumped next to Orion, who held a card. "Ladies, meet the Compulsory Evacuation Device."

Atrax's dying scream closed the curtain upon the first half of the Duel.

* * *

_Vieux-Québec–Cap-Blanc–colline Parlementaire, La Cité-Limoilou, Quebec City,  
Quebec, Canada  
29 October 20XX (-8:00 GMT)_

The white raven flew low over the burning city of Quebec. Smoke mottled parts of the skies, and as the raven ducked past hordes of screaming monsters, it also flew over crowds of evacuating civilians that milled across the destruction. It flew over Saint-Jean-Baptiste, ducking under a screaming flight of planes from an increasingly panicked human air force before it circled the Château Frontenac and climbed up. The raven scanned through the skies, up before ducking down towards the summit of Cap Diamant, down to the Citadelle of Quebec.

The Citadelle was not simply a pretty bauble; it had been Quebec City's fortifications since the seventeenth century. Parts of the building had stood through the French and Indian War, nearly a century before the United States of America had been formed. It was now the official residence of the Governor-General of Canada and the Monarch, yet today it flew the blues and white of Winter.

The raven skirted solid battlements, ducking and weaving before it arrived at the windows, letting out a soft croak as it heralded the message to the grand hall.

Perched at the head of the long table, Michiru scowled. "Who let Setsuka return to Neo Domino?!"

"She's in Neo Domino now?" Satsuki registered in surprise. Milling about the room were a few more Duelists and Duel Spirits alike, who stopped at her pronouncement. "Why? This is accelerating the plan! Michiru..."

"Jack Atlas tried to kill our Queen," Michiru gravely announced to the room at large. "Her Majesty had no choice but to kill him."

This announcement heralded a round of cheers. "Knew she could do it!"

"That's the holder of Red Demon's Dragon!"

"But," Michiru broke out once more. "Right now, our Queen is in the city of her birth. Our Queen is back in the heart of all these events, the root of the matter... I see."

"What, Michiru?" Satsuki demanded.

"Oh, that's clever..." Michiru licked her lips. "Ladies and gentlemen... all of you have wondered why Her Majesty has yet to turn towards Japan."

"_Yes_!" one shouted.

"_Japan's where the Momentum reactor is!_"

"The reason for that is... until now, the presence of the remaining Signers were dangerous," Michiru licked her lips. "But, with the deaths of Rua and Ruka, plus our Queen's victory over Jack Atlas, Neo Domino City is ours to seize. Her Majesty has gone to prepare the way."

Michiru spread her arms wide, but her expression was unsmiling. "The Queen of Winter shall be the one who opens the gates from within! Until she calls, we will run free and turn this shitty world upside down! So, until then, rip apart this city, this country, this continent, and this world! All hail Winter!"

"All hail Winter!" they shouted with a feverish joy and bloodlust. "All hail Winter! All hail Winter!"

* * *

_**Please review!**_


	9. VIII: Acid Rain

**VIII: Acid Rain**

_Deep Forest, between Ghostrick House and Madolche Château,  
Duel Monsters Spirit World.  
29 October 20XX (Time Indeterminate)_

Atrax: LP 1500 → LP 0

Nepenthes: LP 8000, Gigaplant [1900/1200 (weakened)], Continuous Spell: Verdant Sanctuary

Hazuki: LP 7000, Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms [3000/1200 (boosted)], Rose Tentacles [2200/1200], Continuous Trap: Rose Flame

Yukio: LP 8000, Number 47: Nightmare Shark [2000/2000], Continuous Trap: Adapt to Adversity. 1 set card.

The black-clad sister of the Traptrix stumbled, staring in disbelief at the petal-inflicted cuts upon her form. Thousands of them had shredded her clothings to rags, and her eyes were wide, hidden behind chopped black locks that hung matted from her scalp, wet with bleeding.

"Sister!" the second of the Traptrix, Myrmeleo, dismounted her beast to run towards her fallen sister. "Nepenthes!"

"I will continue, take her!" the youngest of the Traptrix answered.

"Are you sure that is fine?" Raiho, having dispassionately watched the entire Duel, finally deigned to comment. "Atrax of the Traptrix is already lost."

Myrmeleo tugged the wrecked Duel Spirit into her arms. "It doesn't matter. Our obligation to Winter is discharged, with damage incurred to my sister. If I lose my sister to mere business, then that is fine. Even so, I must try."

"Why?" Raiho enquired. "Even if Atrax were to survive, she shall be crippled for a long time. Is it not the most ideal way to send her towards the wheels of fate now, and wait for her return, rather than toil and waste resources towards the betterment of a body that would not recover? Is sentiment not the realm of humanity?"

Myrmeleo just stared at him. "Sometimes I forget that the Courts are the most pitiful of us spirits."

"What?" Nikki whispered. "What does she mean by that? Cologne?"

"...I do not know," Cologne admitted.

Raiho's expression changed to something approaching cold fury. "I suggest you run, before I truly take offence."

"Run!" Nepenthes screamed. "Sister Myrmeleo, run!"

Myrmeleo flinched, before picking up the body to melt back into the shadows. Raiho turned his head, giving chase and leaving the Arcadia Movement's Duelists with Nepenthes.

"My turn, draw!" Nepenthes called. "I Gemini Summon Gigaplant!"

The various pods upon the Gigaplant mashed open, the spines clacking with unusual hardness as the monster bellowed.

"The effect of Gigaplant allows me to special summon Beetron [1600/900] from my hand ," Nepenthes called as the humanoid beetle burst onto the field, sticky plant sap covering the loamy soil. "I use the effect of Beetron, sacrificing Verdant Sanctuary on my field to special summon Koa'ki Meiru Beetle in face-up defence mode. I construct the overlay network with Beetron and Beetle! Exceed summon! Come, Kachi Kochi Dragon!"

Spines jutted from the ground, and Nepenthes hissed in pain as some of those spines dug into her outstretched arm. At the same time, the stone dragon crystallised, its maw opening to clash in a creak of stone [2100/1300].

"Kachi Kochi Dragon, attack Nightmare Shark!" Nepenthes ordered.

The dragon bellowed, smashing into Nightmare Shark.

"At this time, when Kachi Kochi Dragon destroys a monster, its effect-" Nepenthes cut off as Nightmare Shark growled. "W- What?"

"Trap card, Impenetrable Attack," Yukio defended, even as spines struck at him. "This battle phase, Nightmare Shark cannot be destroyed by battle or card effect."

Nepenthes: LP 8000

Hazuki: LP 7000

Yukio: LP 8000 → LP 7900

"Gigaplant, attack!" Nepenthes vindictively snarled as the monster bit down, but Nightmare Shark tore through it.

Nepenthes: LP 8000 → LP 7600

Hazuki: LP 7000

Yukio: LP 7900

"My Gigaplant... how did it lose?" Nepenthes screamed.

"I used three Needle Sunfish to Exceed summon Nightmare Shark," Yukio answered. "The effect of Needle Sunfish activates when it is sent to the graveyard; I choose one face-up monster, and that monster loses five hundred attack power. When I detached one material for Nightmare Shark's effect just now, your Gigaplant was already on the field. We were attacking Atrax of the Traptrix, and you were so caught up in the sight that you forgot about Needle Sunfish."

"How incredibly powerful," Cologne agreed. "How intimidating as well. That Duelist has experienced much pain."

"You can tell?" Orion asked.

"In a sense, all Duel Spirits can," Cologne answered. "In a way, that is how we search for the appropriate partners. The power-hungry, the kind, the ambitious, the dark... there are remnants of humanity even in spirits. Humans would call that feeling... the darkness of the heart. It is not bad. It is not evil. It is rage, light transmuted into a usable form to be expressed, malice to be exercised with the application of will. That boy has reason to hate. That boy also has reason to love, and the skill to think rationally."

"Cologne?" Nikki asked.

"I suppose... there are lessons to be learned here," Cologne nodded. "This is the battle of your seniors, Nicolette. Pay attention well."

"...call me Nikki," Nikki responded.

"That was close," Chase massaged his throat where the ant-lion had nearly beheaded him. "Orion, that was really fast work."

"Not the first time," Orion absently responded. "Kurosagi, we're going to have words when we get back. Cologne... you led her to them."

"She asked me to," Cologne replied. "Why would I deny it, when she would defend my kingdom and gain power? It satisfies both of us. I have informed her of all the consequences, and the information I have. Exactly what moral bone must you pick now?"

"That you knowingly led an immature Psychic Duelist into a danger zone," Orion snarled. "You could probably tell that she's too uncontrolled to fight. Why did you continue?!"

"She knew the stakes," Cologne defended. "She chose. Choice is a wonderful thing, is it not?"

"I chose, Orion-san!" Nikki leapt to her defence. "Ayame-neesan... Kannazuki-sempai... they died because of her! I wanted to kill her... I hate her! I wished to defeat her! These powers... they were born from this hatred and pain she caused! You can't understand, what it's like to see your family ripped apart and know who caused it!"

Nikki was breathing hard, cradling her cheek; Orion's hand had lashed out at that last declaration. Despite having kept his cool, the older man looked ragged and worn, as if he wished to place much more violence but rationality held him back.

"I never saw the Elysium Circle kill my guardians," Orion quietly told her. "I never saw that they did it for the Duel Spirits; they were annihilists, so the rumours went. What I do know, was that my cousin, the one that I thought was reasonably happy if not truly belonging, changed because of them. What I do know, is that ten years made her worse. Setsuka is no different from the illnesses, misfortune, and spectres that haunt all families. The only difference is that you get someone to blame. I envy you."

Nikki gaped at him. "W- What?"

"You have a solid entity to blamed, a person that can be killed, a thing that is convenient to hate," Orion stonily replied. "I want to save my cousin, and the only way to do that is to kill her. At least you can hate her, at least you have the will to do so. All of my power makes no difference to her, because I couldn't bring myself to kill her. I think that's why I wanted to take you on, so that I can train her killer and tell myself that it's all okay."

"My turn, draw!" Yukio spoke quietly. "Nightmare Shark's effect activates, allowing it to direct attack. Jaws of the Deep!"

Nepenthes: LP 7600 → LP 5600

Hazuki: LP 7000

Yukio: LP 7900

"And, Needle Sunfish activates in the graveyard," Yukio grimly announced as spines trapped the glistening dragon [2100/1300 → 1600/1300]. "Turn end."

"My turn, draw!" Hazuki announced. "I summon Cactus Fighter [1900/400] in attack mode. Hence, the attack power of Talaya increases [3000/1200 → 3100/1200]. Battle. Cactus Fighter, destroy Kachi Kochi Dragon!"

The overgrown cactus lashed out with spiny clubbed arms, catching onto the dragon and destroying it.

Nepenthes: LP 5600 → LP 5300

Hazuki: LP 7000

Yukio: LP 7900

"When Cactus Fighter destroys an opponent's monster by battle, one Needle Token [500/500] is special summoned onto the opponent's field in defence mode," Hazuki continued, her mouth thinned into a grim line. "Rose Flame activates."

Nepenthes: LP 5300 → LP 4800

Hazuki: LP 7000

Yukio: LP 7900

"Rose Tentacles, destroy that Needle Token with Thorn Whip!" Hazuki ordered. "Have another three hundred damage!"

Nepenthes: LP 4800 → LP 4500

Hazuki: LP 7000

Yukio: LP 7900

"Talaya, direct attack with Scatter Petal!" Hazuki ordered as the flower princess lashed out.

Nepenthes: LP 4500 → LP 1400

Hazuki: LP 7000

Yukio: LP 7900

"I activate Magic Planter to tribute Rose Flame and draw two cards," Hazuki called. "I set a card, turn end."

"My turn, draw!" Nepenthes called. "I set a monster and a card, turn end!"

"Draw!" Yukio ordered. "I activate Angel Baton, calling me to draw two cards but to discard a monster in exchange. Nightmare Shark, attack!"

"Trap, Sakuretsu Armour!" Nepenthes ordered.

"Chain quick-play Spell, Cascade Barrier!" Yukio defended. "In exchange for Nightmare Shark being not destroyed by card effects, this turn, its attack power is reduced to zero [2000/2000 → 0/2000]!"

"Hah!" Nepenthes laughed, uncaring of the blizzard of petals that surrounded her. "Now I take zero damage from you!"

Yukio smirked. "Yes... _from_ me."

"What...?" Nepenthes's eyes widened at the sight of the twister surrounding her.

"Trap card, Curse of Rose," Hazuki supplied. "It inflicts damage to an opponent when the attack power of an opponent's monster changes, equal to that change. Of course, I choose that opponent. You take no damage from him... from me, it is another matter."

"I- I lost..." a bottom lip quivered.

"Now, it looks like I have your life in my hands. Do you yield?"

"S- Sisters..." Nepenthes hung her head.

"I..." Hazuki looked down, before she looked up, her eyes hardening. "I will not hesitate after this chance. Do. You. Yield?"

"I..." Nepenthes cringed.

Nepenthes: LP 1400

Hazuki: LP 7000

Yukio: LP 7900

"I surrender."

* * *

_Headquarters of the Arcadia Movement, New Orleans chapter,  
Floor 1-44 Babel Tower, Canal Street, New Orleans,  
Louisiana, United States of America  
29 October 20XX (-8:00 GMT)_

"You don't know what it's like. I envy you."

Takeshi started at her words. "Nee-chan?"

"Those were tabooed words during my training," Kaname admitted freely. "_'You don't know what it's like.'_ To remind those who were not born with this power, to remind them of their powerlessness when faced with a truly powerful Psychic. _'I envy you.'_ To declare, beyond the shadow of a doubt... that you would rather be powerless than alone."

"...and?" Takeshi asked.

"Alexianna has been ignoring you, I take it." Kaname mentioned.

"Well, it's a war," Takeshi defended. "She's fighting, I'm stuck in relatively cushy places. What else?"

"Do you ever wonder why you fell for her?"

Takeshi stopped. "It... it happens."

"Perhaps I should say... did you ever wonder why you could admit it?" Kaname nodded. "You are very alone in this world. The opinions of neither the majority of DA North, West nor East affects you, to say nothing of Neo Domino and presently, the Arcadia Movement. Alexianna is a pretty girl. You'd think that she's already gone out once or twice with another guy."

"Oi, Nee-chan," Takeshi huffed. "That's my girlfriend there."

"Fiancée, I saw the ring," Kaname corrected. "Anyway, aside from the fact that she can fly and her Duels end with the opponent's bones broken, she's perfect. Unfortunately, her powers label her as otherwise, which isolates her. Hence, the restraints upon Psychics are as much the pressure of society as well as the individual opinion."

Takeshi gaped at her. "...what are you trying to tell me?"

"The reason why... the reason why life is better is because of Shimotsuki," Kaname confessed. "You hated her, Takeshi, but you didn't know what it was like then. Shimotsuki made things better for _us_, even more so than the Madame. Even today, within the Arcadia Movement, her supporters number in the hundreds, thousands, maybe even the majority of it. The Army doesn't trust us because we are Shimotsuki's work. Even now, as she takes on the world, and wins one battle at a time, and we stare in terror at the destruction... Psychics are staring up to her, to emulate her, to follow her. If the world loses... I don't know what would happen to the Arcadia Movement, if it would... follow what was her intention with it all along."

"She does have that charisma," Takeshi agreed. The beeps of the consoles around them provided a sort of calm from the madness of half an hour ago. "So, while I'm resting from the coordination of several relief efforts, what else are you trying to tell me?"

"She banned those words, and they've never been spoken," Kaname admitted. "Sometimes I think she did it to stop herself from admitting them."

A red light blinked as a siren blared, and Takeshi picked it up. "Louisiana to Central, we got you. What? Wait, really?"

The receiver clattered on steel as Takeshi turned to Kaname. "You'll never believe what just came in."

"Tell me," Kaname ordered.

Takeshi told her.

Ten minutes later, Babel Tower was in an uproar, and Kaname was packing to set out to Japan at the first Army conveyance she had called in. An Army truck had picked her up from the foyer of Babel Tower, and Kaname had actually stared as the African-American saluted her.

"Kaname Ishihara?" the soldier spoke. "I'm Specialist Archie O'Brien of the US Armed Forces."

"What..." Kaname gaped as the soldier leaned over to take her case. "I- I don't need an escort, Specialist."

"With all respect, ma'am, we just want to make sure that you're going to make it to Japan," he answered. "I'll be your bodyguard from now until you reach La Castle."

"Call me Kaname," Kaname answered. "I'm not that old. I don't need a bodyguard."

"Winter's aerial forces have been known to attack planes," he answered. "Call me Archie, please. It's just orders. The world can't afford to let their only effort to imprison _her_ die."

Kaname flinched. "I'm not that important."

"They see you as a magician," Archie shook his head as he reached down for the case. "I'm just trying to do my job."

"No," Kaname sharply insisted. "If I let you do your job, you don't touch my equipment. You mess with a miracle-worker, you get lousy miracles."

Archie's hand withdrew from it. "You're... using that to do your job?"

"I am the foremost Lockdown and Mill specialist within the Movement," Kaname answered. "Is it not obvious that a specialist brings their equipment with them?"

"O- Of course," Archie nodded to the doors. "This way."

As the truck rolled towards the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, Kaname just shrugged, holding the suitcase tightly.

"So... what are your equipment?" Archie asked, a tattoo drumming on the steering wheel.

"Cards," Kaname answered.

"What?" Archie frowned.

"Much of the real effort comes from my power," Kaname confessed. "These cards are used to coordinate the efforts needed."

"How... does it work?" Archie frowned.

"You took Duel history?" Kaname asked. Upon receiving a blank look, Kaname shrugged. "Duel Monsters was created by Pegasus J. Crawford Maximilian approaching Y2K, an American millionaire who ran Industrial Illusions at first. It is accepted that the game came about due to the various influences Pegasus received on his travels around the world; that accounts for the presences of various cultural icons in the cards. Later, Professor Arthur Hopkins postulated that Duel Monsters itself came from a far older game, where magicians called upon spirits to do battle and weave magical spells to perform a variety of tasks. This theory was not widely accepted; it meant connecting Duel Monsters to a far older tradition, and elevating the relatively new subculture of Duel Monsters to older, far more historical roots than even organised religion can claim."

"That Duel Monsters are magic?" Archie asked.

"Yes. Seto Kaiba later promoted, through the various Duel Academias, this line of thought, and the existence of certain cursed cards, blessed cards, or even powers associated with Duel Monsters were further codified," Kaname recited, closing her eyes. "Codification of the existence of Duel Spirits took place between the First Wave; that is, Battle City and the Three Phantom Gods, plus the rise of Yuugi Mutou as King of Games, and during the rise of the Second Wave, the establishment of Generation X. Judai Yuuki, Johan Andersen, the Marufuji brothers, Edo Phoenix. The Third Wave began early, during the Zero Reverse incident, but it was not fully codified until the rise of King Jack Atlas, then the subsequent depose of Atlas and the rise of Yusei Fudo. It was during this Third Wave that the Arcadia Movement's existence was solidified."

Kaname took a deep breath. "It was thought that, because of the Zero Reverse and its association with the Momentum Reactor and with Duel Monsters, that certain humans were affected on a genetic level to able to hurt through Solid Vision. Divine made this power transient and transcendent; he promoted the idea of developing Psychic powers, that these powers were a mark of a higher power, a higher state of evolution. Such claims are not uncommon of cults, especially such like the Arcadia Movement."

"But that still doesn't answer my question," Archie pointed out.

"Curious?" Kaname asked.

Archie's fingers tightened on the wheel as they slowed to a red light. New Orleans rumbled outside; loud, musical, and slightly hopeful. Halloween was approaching, pumpkins and fake bats and black and orange dominated the streets. "That's not an answer."

"The evolution theory was further supported with the rise of the Madame Shimotsuki," Kaname answered. "She brought with her further research commanded by Divine that never fell to him. That research, known as the Billet-doux Report, showed a strong recurrence within matrilineal lines where seven genes, most found upon the X chromosome, seemed to contribute towards the evolution of Psychic Duelists. Amongst which, the sum total were increased mental prowess in the abstract, further telomerase activity, and what seemed to be further associations with the subculture of Duel Monsters, now mainstream culture. But, she paid no mind towards the more mystical aspects of Psychic Duels. Shimotsuki... was different."

Archie drove on, but he noted that the brown-haired Duelist flinched momentarily before speaking again. "Ms Shimotsuki contributed resources towards all aspects of Psychic Duelists. That research was not only genetic, it was political, economic, social, sociological, basically all-encompassing. It revealed that while neural activity played a part towards the solidification of Solid Vision to create an impact, the effect of the impact could be dictated by various cards. Cards like Ookazi would burn the opponent, but would not hypnotise. In the same vein, a Change of Heart could not perform physical damage. But, the effectiveness of such an impact depended upon the Duelist's personal disposition. Some could set fire to anything they called their mind to, but did not necessarily have the mindset to control the winds. Some could freeze liquids, but not necessarily control solids. Dr Hadrian Erik proved the correlation between deck archetypes, monster types and attributes prevalent in a deck, and the powers that a Psychic Duelist would lean towards."

Kaname's hands on the briefcase tightened. "In summary, a possible conclusion would be, that while the Duelists provided the power, the cards dictate the form that this power would take. Of course, this theory does not explain the existence of Duel Spirits, but it is enough."

"So these cards would dictate how to restrain her," Archie mumbled.

"Yes." Kaname sighed as the truck rolled across the airfield. "I suppose my passport would not be needed?"

Dusk had fallen over the skies before the plane had even left New Orleans. Kaname curled up, shivering in the empty cabin before she scribbled some more.

_You're the best imprisonment specialist we have, Castle. We need you... even Spirit won't be able to restrain her for long._

_And Polaris?_

_Left to resolve Kujaku and Tenjouin. Took Titania and Cold Wolf with him, as well as Zero. Will you come?_

_Battlefield Tragedy, _she scribbled. _Intrigue Shield. Messenger of Peace? Discard; Swords of Blazing Light. Force of Four. Rear-Guard Action. Other cards... this will be the largest project I will ever be in..._

So absorbed was Kaname that she barely lifted her head as the cockpit door swung open. She only noticed as a hand seized her head and lifted her chin up to meet honey-brown eyes. Behind them, Archie's prone form lay splayed out, beside the Tactical Espionage Expert that was piloting.

"Hi," Kujaku Satsuki greeted her.

* * *

_Central Headquarters, City Hall,  
Main Street, edging on Tops District,Hearts Area,  
Neo Domino City, Republic of Japan  
29 October 20XX (+9:00 GMT)_

"Sylph, reporting from above," Youkai reported into his earpiece. "I see her from the back."

"Hercules to Sylph," Yuko ordered. "I'm circling the perimeter with Kraehe. Target?"

"Target is in a Duel with Sergeant Yamamoto, Duel Crimes Unit," Youkai winced as he heard an audible crack. "I think she broke a bone when she called her General to attack. Oh shit."

"What?" Yuko sharply snapped.

"She winked at me. I've been spotted."

Far below, Setsuka shrugged as General Gantala returned. "This is... unconventional."

"Conventionality leads to failure," Setsuka whispered in reply, staring as her opponent staggered. "Gantala. You broke him."

"He is a worthy opponent, for a human," the dark-skinned General whispered. "My Queen... I fear for you. You will be alone in the enemy citadel until the building falls. Winter will be alone, unable to be reached."

"Do not worry for me," Setsuka sighed. "I have prepared three contingencies in the event of my death. Besides, the Winter Queen cannot truly die."

"There can be no other Queen like you," Gantala confessed. "You are one Empress amongst many, the only Winter Queen who could retain the Stone of Destiny."

"Don't count on it, Gantala," Setsuka murmured. "Look, he's standing."

Setsuka: LP 6800

Akashi: LP 1500

"Well, it looks like you are deserving of praise," Setsuka commented as the boxer staggered about, as if punch-drunk. "You have managed to scratch me. But, it looks like Gantala has hit back."

"My..." eyes rolled as Akashi tried to remain conscious, but finally toppled over.

Akashi: UNABLE TO BATTLE; LP 1500 → LP 0

Setsuka: WIN

Setsuka watched as red light shone from his form, before it melted towards his deck, where a single card shimmered before it flew out towards her hand. The Winter Queen caught it, and she smirked as she spotted the number of the title. "Number six. This is one of Summer's."

"That leaves six Over-Hundred Numbers, Your Majesty." Gantala acknowledged.

"No... it leaves the other six souls I shall transfer the burden of fate towards," Setsuka bitterly commented, almost to herself. "Yukio Yamada. Angelo di Diablo. Satsuki Kujaku. Kaname Ishihara. Chase Princeton. Kisara Kaiba. Only these people are left. Gantala... you may leave."

"I await... your orders," Gantala bowed deeply as he disappeared.

Setsuka smirked, twirling around on one foot as her DuelDisk and deck dissolved into thin air, leaving her unarmed but dangerous. Hands raised, and Youkai, Yuko and the other Psychics surrounding the square cringed away, almost anticipating the attack.

It never came. Just the quiet admission of a queen who wore no crown nor robe, because she never needed it.

"I surrender."

* * *

_**Please review!**_


	10. IX: Corridor of Agony

_**Grisaille Gaol**_

* * *

**IX: Corridor of Agony**

_US Army Gulfstream IV, en route to Republic of Japan,  
Currently over the Pacific Ocean. (GMT -8:00 to GMT +9:00)_

"What do you want?" Kaname shrank back slightly.

"What makes you think I want anything?" Satsuki enquired.

"If you didn't, I would already be dead," Kaname slowly answered.

"Good choice." Satsuki sank to perch opposite Kaname. Her purple shorts were barely decent, never mind how they stretched as she crossed her legs. "As we speak, my associate is flying the plane past the dragon hordes loose over the Pacific Ocean."

"So I gather," Kaname neutrally replied. "And my bodyguard?"

"He will be fine," Satsuki's shoulder moved. "I want to talk to you about Setsuka."

"You're her subordinate," Kaname said. "If you feel nothing after taking over Russia and the situation in Canada, I have nothing to say to you."

"I feel a lot," Satsuki answered. "Therefore, I would like to draw points of attention to you. Kindly attend."

"You?" Kaname asked despite herself.

"Setsuka could have attacked China through Mongolia from Siberia. Instead, she chose to mount a naval assault and beach invasion on Canada." Satsuki explained. "Why? It makes sense to go for the most populous and second-largest country, right?"

"Assuming that Russia- I mean, Winter can afford to deploy its army," Kaname agreed. "It makes sense, so why the destruction, why the fear...? Are you telling me-!"

"The aim is the States, as you might have realised," Satsuki confirmed. "Parking right next door to them seem to have brought national security to whole new levels. We'll make history yet."

"You will divide the Arcadia Movement," Kaname confessed. "The Movement has no reason to involve itself... not into diplomacy. Winter... Shimotsuki will kill us."

"The Movement is not a prison," Satsuki admitted. "Those within it has grown complacent. Unthinking. There is a reason for all of this."

"What for?" Kaname whispered. "Setsuka Shimotsuki was everything about the Movement embodied, the one who raised it. All of us are held to her standard, her acts. There's no way any one of us can."

"Any one of us," Satsuki nodded. "I am... I declare myself as a friend of the Winter Queen. I can say that it was for the Movement that she changed."

"For the Movement?"

"Everyone knew that the Elysium Circle were responsible for the deaths of the Shimotsuki parents," Satsuki admitted. "No one was more aware than Seika Kannazuki and her. Seika Kannazuki disappeared from the news... the lone girl, Setsuka Shimotsuki, accepted everything. She was a Class V psychic, she had a plan, and she had her arrangements. You know about the succession crisis, right?"

"No... not really," Kaname admitted. "I heard, though."

"Orion Hunter stood up to challenge her," Satsuki related. "I saw it, you know. I saw how a nine-year-old girl beat him to the ground and sent him to the hospital. We of the Central Movement present then saw her brutality."

"She seized the throne in a shower of blood," Kaname recited. "That was the poetic thing they said. Codename Goldenrod... he left."

"He did," Satsuki's lips thinned. "In the interim of years, she connected all branches of the Arcadia Movement, she improved the record system, and she established workable policies through which Psychics could be rehabilitated to function in the normal world. It was backed with brutality, of course. The pawn system..."

"I know," Kaname answered. "I was part of it."

"Trading your life to service in the Movement... until you finally wanted it back," Satsuki commiserated. "So was I. I... I had my personal reasons for joining the Movement, and Setsuka had her reasons for accepting me. But when I chose my codename then... she was so lonely, you know. A small figure hiding behind a large desk... and no one else with her. Everyone thinks that she holds all the power, but she also holds the most work. She takes the curses, she kills the most, she fights the most, and she champions every one of us to be treated fairly by humans. For the first time since I saw her Duel, I was struck. That so young, and she already fought harder than anyone thrown into hell."

"What's the point of reminiscing?" Kaname whispered. "Weren't you here to kill me?"

"I won't," Satsuki answered. "It's just that... to imprison a Psychic Duelist, you need to understand all of their pain, to know how they turn pain into power, and their background. If I didn't tell you, you would almost certainly fail. You would certainly die."

Kaname didn't bother to look up from her point on her knee as Satsuki got up and walked away, to where she did not know. Later, the plane landed without accident just as Archie woke up.

"What- Kaname!" he shouted, sitting up.

"We've arrived," Kaname dryly informed him. "Unless you'd like to re-announce us?"

A car was already waiting on the airfield of Neo Domino International, and a contrite Nakamura on hand.

"Bushido," Kaname greeted slowly.

The butler stiffly nodded, almost businesslike. "Welcome... Castle. Come, I have a car to take us towards our task."

"We're going straight into it?" Kaname asked.

"I thought you might want to see her condition first," Nakamura stiffly answered. "I need not impress upon you the importance of this. If we delay, she could escape, and then more will be needlessly sacrificed. I trust that you are prepared."

Kaname's grip on her briefcase tightened. "Yes... I am prepared for the entrapment and long-term imprisonment of her powers. That is... the powers of Shimotsuki Setsuka."

* * *

_Deep Forest, between Ghostrick House and Madolche Château,  
Duel Monster Spirit World  
29 October 20XX (Time indeterminate)_

Myrmeleo shivered, hidden in the background of the Deep Forest. The shadows served to hide her and her burden long enough for the pair to escape to Summer territory. Atrax would have to line a cave, one that Myrmeleo would dig big enough for three... except that Kazura probably wouldn't be joining them.

"I know that you are here, ant-lion," the General spoke softly. He had barely moved from the well-trodden footpaths, instead circling on one point to glimpse her and her beast. "It is foolishness to back down from one's bargain."

Myrmeleo remained silent. Sooner or later, the General had to leave. She could do this; any of the Traptrix had patience to out-wait them. If she waited long enough, and hid in a deep enough hole, maybe even the Winter Queen would overlook them. She could steal away with Atrax to another dimension... anything to get away.

"I see... you."

Myrmeleo stifled a scream as an arm stabbed through the bush. The Duel Spirit scrabbled, latching onto rough bark hard enough to climb the tree, but not strong enough to lever two away.

Raiho placidly stared back at her defiant expression. "I thought so."

"My beast!" Myrmeleo screamed.

Raiho barely took a second to take care of the ant-lion that ambushed him, but that second bought the Duel Spirit a chance to escape.

"Leave... me..." Atrax warbled.

"I won't." Myrmeleo quietly confessed. "I don't know how to live alone, Sister. Kazura... no, Nepenthes is most likely dead. I won't know what to do."

"We can only do the best we can, since our job screwed up," Atrax sadly whispered as the second sister collapsed against the nearest tree. "Leave me. Run. If... If you can make it to the Château, Summer can take you in. You could probably barter passage there."

"Sister, please don't make me leave," Myrmeleo hissed, her eyes wide. "I'm so hungry..."

"It's the blood," Atrax dabbed her hand into the cuts on her arms, before raising it to the tawny-robed sister. "Blood is power. Here."

A pink tongue tentatively poked the digit. "It's so good, Sister..."

"So, run quickly," Atrax pressed. "He's coming."

Reluctantly, Myrmeleo stepped back, watching Atrax steady herself against the trunk of the tree before she nodded and ran. That was how Raiho found the black-robed sister, leaning against the trunk for dear life.

"She abandoned you in the end," Raiho commented.

"Perhaps," Atrax replied. "Are you going to kill us?"

"Well, you survived that Duel," Raiho commented. "Your sister, on the other hand, is not about to survive Winter's artillery fire."

Atrax's mouth opened in a silent scream as the echo of cannon fire reached her ears. "No... ack-!"

Feet dangled off of the ground as Raiho's hand slammed her back against the tree. "Powerless spider," Raiho commented as he watched the girl struggle feebly. "A shame, you know. The Traptrix sisters would have provided much entertainment for the high and mighty of Winter."

"S- S-... op..." Atrax choked, her fingers clawing weakly at Raiho's sleeve.

Fingers dug into delicate skin, before bone snapped. Clawing hands lost strength, falling weakly to either side before she was tossed away like a broken doll, left to rot in the compost of her birth. Raiho frowned, before advancing on his path, slowly approaching the tawny-coloured stain amongst the dark greens of the Deep Forest.

"S- Sister..." it struggled.

"Ah, you're still intact," Raiho commented, pushing at the body to examine the face. "Mostly. That face would turn many a head."

Said face was arranged into an expression of pure horror.

"Do you know what I am?" Raiho asked.

"The Queen's... servant," she whispered. "But... Winter..."

Raiho snorted. "Perhaps there is sense in you yet. Quite galling, setting the beast that came with your birth upon one of Winter's generals. But that means that your combat abilities are crippled. And with that said..."

Myrmeleo was strong enough to push weakly against the band of fingers tightening around her trachea, coughing. Raiho held firm anyway.

"Pray, child," Raiho whispered. "Pray that fate gives you a better life than one cursed with weakness. When you wake up, you will be in the bowels of Lia Fáil."

One hand reached up and attempted to dig its thumb into his eyeball, which Raiho contemptuously slapped aside. "Maybe your future masters would deign to break you in."

Raiho let go, in time before the swarm of rose petals descended around him. Chains of yellow energy played out around him, nearly threatening restraint. Combat boots skidded to land beside Myrmeleo, checking her palm and pulse immediately. "She's fine, just a few impact injuries, maybe ribs... Kurosagi!"

Raiho stepped away as a sword of jewels nearly impaled him. "Pitiful."

Orion, having moved the fallen Traptrix into a fireman carry, glared at Raiho. "You're one of them, aren't you? The Ice Barrier."

"You have my clan," Raiho nodded. "I know who you are, dog of Exodia. I see that Nepenthes survived as well."

The last of the Traptrix was a visible bundle on the back of the Gigantic Cephalotus that carried her. Beside the arboreal monster, Hazuki glared back.

"What were you going to do?" Orion warned.

"Take her to the Stone of Destiny," Raiho answered. "It is conqueror's right."

"That's inhumane," Nikki shivered.

"They aren't human," Chase snapped back, running in with Yukio in tow.

"The spirit-caller is correct," Raiho agreed. "She will serve Winter."

"I saw her body," Hazuki snarled back. "How could you?!"

"Because I can. Because it is needed in Winter's name. Humans kill each other all the time; I don't understand why you have moral problems with the murder of non-human entities," Raiho sounded politely bewildered.

"There's no reasoning with them," Chase mumbled, laying a hand on Hazuki's shoulder awkwardly. "They follow their own rules. Winter is vicious and cruel, after all."

"We are Winter," Raiho echoed politely. "I claim the Traptrix as Winter's property now in the name of Her Majesty. Should you resist, I shall order my troops to unleash artillery fire upon all of you, proceed to ceaselessly gun you down, and then, in the case of survivors, they shall suffer the same fate."

"We won't hand someone over to you to be tortured," Nikki stubbornly defended. "Orion-san..."

Yukio and Hazuki looked at Orion, who just glared at Raiho. "There is no reasoning with you, is there?"

"To serve Winter," Raiho answered, "is to give my honour to the rules of the Duel, my pride to Winter, and my life in service of the Queen."

"...very well." Orion's own DuelDisk unfolded sharply. "Then let's settle this the traditional way."

"I accept," Raiho commented.

"Duel!"

Raiho: LP 8000

Orion: LP 8000

"I shall begin, draw," Raiho ordered. "I shall set a monster and a card. Turn end."

"Draw!" Orion snarled. "I summon Royal Magical Library [0/2000]."

"The Library?" Chase commented as the purple-robed librarian appeared upon the field.

"It's a pretty balanced card," Yukio admonished.

"It's boring," Chase muttered.

"I activate the Continuous Spell, Vengeful Bog Spirit," Orion called. "With this, all monsters cannot attack on the turn that they are summoned. The effect of Royal Magical Library allows it to gain one Spell Counter. Next, I set two cards. Turn end."

"I draw!" Raiho announced. "I summon Skystarray [600/300] to the field."

"That monster... look out, Orion-san!" Nikki flinched as the green stingray floated upon the field.

"This turn, my monster cannot attack, but it does not matter," Raiho announced. "I shall set two cards and end my turn."

"I draw!" Orion declared. "I move Royal Magical Library to defence mode. I then equip Royal Magical Library with Broken Bamboo Sword. Then, I activate Golden Bamboo Sword, which allows me to draw two cards. Since three Spells have been activated, I remove all three Spell Counters from Royal Magical Library to draw a card. I shall set a monster. Turn end."

"I draw!" Raiho snapped. "I summon Flyfang [1600/300]. Skystarray, direct attack on Exodia's servant!"

Orion merely crouched as he weathered the assault.

Orion: LP 8000 → LP 7400

Raiho: LP 8000

"Trap card, Damage Condenser," Orion retaliated. "By discarding a card from my hand, I special summon another Royal Magical Library [0/2000] in face-up attack position from my deck."

"Skystarray is banished from the field since it declared an attack. Turn end," Raiho merely answered.

"I draw!" Orion called. "Flip summon, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive [1400/1000]. By its effect, I draw a card. Activate the Trap, Jar of Greed, I draw once more. I activate the Spell, Magical Mallet, allowing me to return three cards to my deck and shuffle it to draw three cards. I change Royal Magical Library to defence mode. Then, I play Card of Burial Magic, allowing me to banish three Spells from my graveyard to draw two cards. I set a card. Turn end."

"Reinforcing your hand... Exodia?" Raiho's expression changed. "As expected... I draw! Skystarray, return to the field. And then, direct attack!"

"Trap card, Defence Draw!" Orion retaliated. "Battle damage this time changes to zero, and I draw a card."

"But, my Flyfang can join Skystarray in this assault," Raiho murmured. "Flyfang can inflict piercing damage, and I see that you have a vulnerable defence. Flyfang, destroy Dekoichi!"

The shark bore down upon the steam engine to mechanical whines as the machine shattered.

Orion: LP 7400 → LP 6800

Raiho: LP 8000

"At the end of the Battle Phase where Flyfang inflicted battle damage, it is banished until my next standby phase, as is Skystarray," Raiho flatly announced. "Wingtortoise [1500/1000] is special summoned in defence mode. Turn end."

"My turn, draw!" Orion declared, wincing as a particularly nasty gash from the second Skystarray assault began bleeding slightly.

"Blood..." Nikki gasped. "Doctor... a doctor... Himemiya-san, Yamada-san..."

"This world is that of the Duel Spirits," Chase admonished. "You're still injured; Cologne, make sure your contractor doesn't do anything dumb."

"Princeton-san... why, why aren't you helping him?" Nikki whispered.

"This world is where the rules of the Duel reign," Chase muttered, not meeting her eyes. "If we break them, disaster befalls us."

"He is correct," Cologne answered. "Even so, he doesn't need treatment for such minor injuries yet. He is the dog of Exodia."

"Why do you call him that, Cologne?"

"Because he is," the blonde Duel Spirit answered. "Humans who throw away their lives to gain the fickle power of one great spirit are the greatest fools. In exchange for a time of victory, in exchange for power, to discard even their right of choice... He is little more than a dead man walking. He must have been truly desperate."

_You have a solid entity to blamed, a person that can be killed, a thing that is convenient to hate. I want to save my cousin, and the only way to do that is to kill her. At least you can hate her, at least you have the will to do so. All of my power makes no difference to her, because I couldn't bring myself to kill her..._

"I activate Gift of the Weak, banishing from my hand Deep Diver to draw two cards." Orion declared. "Now, I remove three Spell Counters from each Royal Magical Library to draw two cards. I activate the Spell One Day of Peace, allowing each player to draw a card, but invalidates all damage done for until the end of my opponent's turn."

"You have used many Spells," Raiho observed. "Is it not pointless?"

"There is a point to all of this," Orion answered as he made his draw. "That meaning is here!"

"You could not have assembled Exodia's pieces in so short a time!" Raiho declared. "Exodia's servants do not fully control the beast, nor do they have such an easy time in their Duels. Not since a foolish man attempted to overthrow the Herald of the Gentle Darkness... not since the failed fusion of worlds...!"

One eye, his left eye, sparked deep gold as Orion glared at him. "Then maybe you haven't faced one."

"Impossible..." Raiho snapped. "My Queen defeated you handily. You bear the scars of battle from her."

One hand drifted towards his sternum, but then Orion caught himself. Blue eyes, warm and without the crystallised ice of the Shimotsuki heiress, gold flame burning within, merely heralded a death to come. "Your Queen defeated me. That was my first mistake. That is a mistake I will not allow again."

"That marker..." Raiho stared, peering at Orion even as red concentric circles thrummed over the field. "Impossible... all previous contractors have held prior contracts or agreements with other Duel Spirits, but you... what have you done? No one enters or leaves the spirit world unchanged, but such exposure to the beast's power has made you _other_. You have made yourself like the rulers of Summer and Winter... you have no place in either world."

"I am a Hunter, and the last of the Hunters," Orion merely bowed his head in acknowledgement as the rings converged upon Raiho. "I am willing to bear the consequences. Exodia... obliterate."

Raiho gave a soft sigh, almost baring his neck in supplication as the mist descended. When it dissipated, the general was laid down, eyes closed, and cap in clasped hands. It almost looked like he was sleeping, if not for the body breaking down almost immediately after.

"He's... dead..." Nikki whispered.

Orion collapsed at the same time that a high-pitched whistle resounded throughout the forest. In the distance, came the notes of a hunting horn, dark and clear – and the baying of hounds.

"Run!" Yukio snapped, diving to pick up Orion to sling next to a sleeping Nepenthes on the Botanical took Nikki and Cologne by each hand and ran, with the leonine plant following its mistress. Chase and Yukio sprinted behind her without apparent effort, or the ease of long practice.

"If it's all the same, you might want to run a bit faster," Cologne murmured. "There's a hunt coming."

The horn belled again, backed up by the dolmens, and the cries of the pack rang out sharp and clear. Chase whirled to look, running a few paces backward, before turning again. "I could have sworn they were very far behind a moment ago."

"It is the nature of the worlds," Cologne answered. "Distance and time are what the great powers, including the rulers of the world, decide. I believe it best to retreat towards the Doll House."

"Wasn't it invaded or something?" Nikki whispered.

"My life and that of the Doll House is inextricably linked," Cologne answered flippantly. "Were my kingdom destroyed, I would know."

They passed a dolmens, and then Cologne skirted a clearing where there were a series of tents clearly displaying reds and greens, before they skirted Gothic-style walls and passed a set of wrought-iron gates around which ivy was creeping over. The gates clanged shut almost immediately behind them, and the long driveway, even more bizarrely, seemed to take only a moment's effort to walk through.

As they reached the porch of the Gothic-style mansion, Cologne collapsed next to Nikki, shivering with the effort. "That was... horrible..."

Chase began hammering on the doors as baying resounded outside. "Is anyone there?! Anyone, answer!"

The double doors creaked open and Chase stumbled back, blinking as he stared at the dog advisor in the imperial _ikan _that had not been worn for over a thousand years. Even weirder was the _ogi_ fan it held in a tiny paw.

"Welcome back, Princess, chow," it rumbled.

"Chow Chow Chan," Cologne rattled off, clearly relieved. "We have guests."

"I will see to the arrangements immediately," the dog nodded, standing as it were on its hind paws. "Our esteemed guest here would be pleased. He has been assisting with the defence of our House."

"Our... guest...?" the blonde Duel Spirit sounded confused.

Footsteps resounded behind the anthropomorphic Duel Spirit, and the figure crossed its arms.

"You're..." Cologne sounded at a loss for words.

"You..." Chase mumbled, dark eyes wide. "Ryuusei...?"

Red bangs hung from a dark-haired head, a curtain to brilliant blue-green eyes set in olive skin. The man, although not quite tall, stood with a confidence beside itself, a star shining in the darkness. A battle cloak of grey-black had been thrown over leather armour, the smooth finish rumpled by long use.

"It's been a long time, Chase," Ryuusei Fudo acknowledged. "Hazuki-san, Yukio-san. Shall we talk about this inside?"

They retreated within, while Ryuusei whistled lowly, a stream of butterflies converging on the Winter soldiers outside of the gates. As the doors slammed shut, the outside had fallen silent. Not a single trace of Winter's soldiers, nor of its battalion, were left when the butterflies had devoured them.

* * *

_Sub-basement 3, Central Arcadia Movement Headquarters, La Castle,  
Neo Domino City, Republic of Japan  
29 October 20XX (+9:00 GMT)_

Even despite being escorted under heavy guard, being chained to a chair, and being monitored twenty-four seven, Setsuka still found the energy to be amused at Ryuusei's handling of her troops. "Sloppy, that."

Opposite her, Yuuko and Uzuki Himemiya stared. Files had been scattered across the table. "Do you find something funny?" Yuuko asked.

"Nothing you would comprehend, Captain Kaname, Kraehe," Setsuka relaxed. "You have engaged in silence for two hours. I would imagine that you have figured out how to phrase your questions in that time."

"Sergeant Yamamoto is dead," Yuuko snarled. "You killed him."

"I dealt the blow that killed him," Setsuka corrected. "Are you going to charge me?"

"We're calling in a lockdown and mill specialist," Uzuki sharply replied. "Then we'll turn you over to the ICJ once you can't hurt anyone else."

"Then you might have to kill me," Setsuka pleasantly replied. "Because I can hurt people. It is that curious aspect of my nature that allowed me to make the Arcadia Movement what it was. A vicious organisation of very human monsters."

"So you admit yourself that you're a monster?" Uzuki asked.

"I am no more a monster than Hazuki Himemiya is. Was," Setsuka corrected, her expression unchanging. "Hazuki can be very sadistic when the mood strikes her. Of course, not as much as Michiru, but enough. A Titania must be fickle, after all."

"My sister is more than your creation, Shimotsuki Setsuka," Uzuki snarled.

"We will charge you with the murder of Yamamoto Akashi," Yuuko severely replied. "More charges shall come later. Once the Movement has established that your powers can no longer hurt others, you will be remanded and sent under heavy escort to face charges in The Hague. Most likely, you will be facing a war tribunal under charges of crimes against humanity. You will face justice in the end."

"Irrelevant," Setsuka dismissed. "There is no justice in this world, or the next. It is a comfortable delusion you hold."

"Kraehe," Yuuko shushed. "Please. I'd like a word with her. Alone."

Uzuki's honey-brown eyes seemed to tighten, before she relented and stormed out in a huff. It left the silver-haired Captain and the dark-haired Winter Queen seated across each other.

"Where is... Seika?" Yuuko began with forced amicability. "We couldn't find her body, but... Misawa Tsugare told us that she's dead."

"Since you know that, why are you asking me?" Setsuka pointed out.

"I... I want to help you, Setsu-han," Yuuko persuaded. "I haven't seen you for over twelve years. I... I feel guilty."

"You left."

"I did," Yuuko admitted.

"So did Orion-niisan," Setsuka commented neutrally. "None of you could be trusted. None of you were prepared to shoulder the burden of power that was required over the Arcadia Movement."

"I... I don't really know what went on about the Movement's politics," Yuuko carefully chose her words. "But, I do know that there was another organisation. The Elysium Circle, right? If it was merely a question of providing for Psychics, the Arcadia Movement could have supported them-"

"The Elysium Circle killed them."

"What...?" Yuuko paused. "That..."

"The investigating officer, Lieutenant Hasegawa..." Setsuka paused for effect. "he's your subordinate, is he not?"

Not for any longer if she had her way, but Yuuko did not need to admit that. "He is."

"Not for long," Setsuka darkly muttered. "On the first of May nearly twelve years ago, Regina Mackenzie, the head of the Elysium Circle, visited the manor. This visit was reported, both by Nakamura Iemitsu, the butler, and myself. Yet, Regina Mackenzie escaped."

"That was..." Yuuko stopped herself from reaching for the pile of information before her. "That never appeared in the files."

"Oh, you saw _these_ files," Setsuka leaned forward, as much as her chains allowed. The temperature dropped as she continued. "Yes. It never appeared. I told them. Nakamura-san told them. Obviously, there is no justice to be gotten through the mortal justice system, but I was occupied with other concerns. One: that the will of Diana Hunter effectively left all to her daughter."

"That would be you," Yuuko relaxed.

"No." Setsuka tapped a tattoo, scowling where her hands had been restrained. "That 'daughter' would be Kannazuki Seika. The full details are long and boring, but the summary is that, aside from nominal inheritances, Seika would become the head of the Arcadia Movement."

"That's... what was the Madame thinking?" Yuuko hissed. "Seika has no Psychic power-!"

"True." the words came quickly, as if they were words that she could never tell anyone. "Seika would have been forced, through the handy tool of Nakamura-san, to discard all of her humanity. She would have taken the bloodstained throne of the Arcadia Movement, she would have stained her hands with blood... you, who saw Seika during the two years ruling a stable Movement, realised the toll it would have held. Twelve years ago, the Movement was assuredly not the stable, powerful, global, united organisation it is now. Orion-niisan would never have been able to take the necessary steps. There is no other way to contest Seika's claim, and Nakamura-san is bound to the words of my mother, first and foremost. I am not assured of humanity. I am, however, very assured with my own power, and that of the Duel Spirits."

"Duel Spirits... you believe in them?" Yuuko tried not to let her incredulity show.

"For those of us who can see them, it becomes less of a question of belief, and a question of reality," Setsuka admonished. "They are very real to me, as they have become very real to you as well."

Yuuko flinched; that truth had struck harder than she thought. "I... a night ago, I faced a Monster Tamer. I thought... they were bulletproof, strong... inhuman."

"In any case, as a Psychic Duelist and someone who could see them, I was doubly blessed and doubly cursed," Setsuka monotonously continued. "Triply cursed, when you consider my mind. I was crippled by my age, my guardians, and the laws of mortals. To achieve everything necessary within the time-frame set, I needed so much. Power... guidance... advice, intelligence, manpower. In exchange for giving myself to that tribe of Duel Spirits, I gained power. I thought, for a brief moment, that I would have died in service to the tribe... imagine, I was to rule over them."

"You became the queen of monsters like that?!" Yuuko hissed, stunned. "Setsuka...!"

"I made Seika disappear; for her own protection, I told Nakamura-san." the Winter Queen continued. "I inherited the Shimotsuki fortune, and I laid out the entire framework upon which the Movement shall grow upon. It was regrettable, what I made Orion-niisan go through, but I ousted my sole legal challenger in the eyes of the Central Movement. I spent two years consolidating my own power; Regina Mackenzie fell in battle, and her son joined the Arcadia Movement. Gaining two scions of the Misawa family was a coup that branched my reach. Kisara Kaiba, the heiress of Kaiba Corporation, was an even bigger bonus, and following her was Satsuki Kujaku, grand-daughter of one of Duel Monsters' timeless champions. Allying the Movement with the Fudo family gave us a political supporter in Senator Hideo Izayoi, and later, treating the heart condition of Ryou Marufuji gave us access to the GeneX circuit, where the wins of our Duelists made everything easier. I found Tenjouin Michiru, and made her into what she was. By the time of my departure, I had brought the Arcadia Movement to its height."

"No one can deny your achievements, Setsu-han," Yuuko pressed. "Everyone knows them."

"Do you realise what I am saying, Yuuko?" the question was delivered in a biting voice. "I killed, I stole, I ruined lives for the Movement. None of my methods were kind; I am manipulative, tricky, and I will cheat where I could. I trained killers, enforcers, I broke Duelists to my will. My achievements, and that of the Arcadia Movement, are covered in the blood of many, the ones I killed myself, and the ones whose lives I ordered to be decimated. The blame for everything lies with me."

Yuuko's hands were shaking as she closed the files before her, and took them as she got up. "We'll... be in touch."

Sharp blue eyes focused on her. "Why?"

"Why-" Yuuko stopped. "You know... I met Orion Hunter-san. I don't know what he sees in you, that he thinks there's something worth saving. He keeps your room as a mausoleum to the two of you: Seika and you. He regrets ever letting you go this far, and this is how you treat him! You've just managed to convince me, Setsu-han... no, Shimotsuki Setsuka. You are utterly beyond salvation. You are at the heart of everything. When the specialist comes, I will make it all within my power to see that you can never hurt anyone ever again."

Blue eyes flashed green for a moment, before they shifted to an eerily bright blue-green. "See that you do, because I promise to hurt you."

Yuuko gave a huff of anger, storming out with the files in hand.

Setsuka settled back, as comfortably as being belted to a chair would allow, and glared towards the one-way mirror on one wall. The glass cracked, and then sort of shattered.

Setsuka smirked as the two Psychics behind the wall stared at her in terror. "Misawa Nowaki," she purred. "Yamada Yuko."

Short, white-haired scout's scarlet eyes met taller, deep blue eyes below a curtain of blue hair. Both pairs of eyes carried near-identical expressions of terror and flickering bravado, in one case.

"We're aren't afraid of you," Yuko told her with all of the frozen courage he could muster.

"As a Class V Duelist, I doubt it," Setsuka shrugged. "But, you, Nowaki. You have a lot to fear."

"You can't hurt me," Youkai faintly whispered.

"Chase Princeton is within the Spirit World," Setsuka told him. "Within the reach of my vassals. Within Winter's reach. Come to think of it, so is Yamada Yukio. My very _able_ student. I can't hurt _you_. _Them_, I can."

"I will kill you if that happens," Yuko snarled, despite caution.

Setsuka leaned back and smiled, despite the threat. "I await that moment."

Both Psychics retreated instantly, giving her a moment of peace as she slumped against the steel chair fixed onto the floor. Idly, she watched the jewel affixed to the chains glow a deep blue. "That took more than I thought, even with Winter's power. I guess it's true that all acts are merely a self-portrait."

Correcting her posture, one finger inched towards the sapphire, looping her middle finger around it. A twist later, the weakened hook gave way, leaving the crystal to fall into a tinkle onto the floor and bounce towards her feet. Setsuka gave a sigh as frost began to cover the chains, and then she idly tested her bonds.

"Blizzed," she spoke to nothing in particular within the room. "We require you to send a message to the usual parties post-haste. Inform those in the Sakhalin Oblast that their Queen commands a naval bombardment of the Japanese archipelago post-haste. Gantala should remain behind to coordinate the Medical Corps. Grunard shall lead the invasion with his troops. With the assistance on hand, Our generals shall await upon the South China Sea for the signal by which We shall seize control of the Castle, and with it the main resistance of Neo Domino City. A net of aerial, naval and terrestrial bounds must be formed over Japan post-haste, for the Republic shall fall at the same time that Michiru has seized Ottawa. Place forces by the People's Republic, and a battleship by the Republic, upon which further instructions are to be issued. So commands Winter."

A ghost of white wings fluttered out of the window. At the same time, the door opened and a brown-haired girl stepped in with two guards, one African-American, and the other dark of hair but with lighter skin. "I can see why."

"Ishihara Kaname," Setsuka greeted. "I see that they call you to... restrain me."

"They're not doing a very good job for now," Kaname acknowledged. "Before long, you'll never hurt anyone ever again."

Setsuka's smile widened. "Did you notice who is your guard?"

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